Light in Darkness
by ughdoihaveto
Summary: *SCRAPPED* Lily's life begins to change after Christmas of her fifth year at Hogwarts. I am terrible at summaries, so please just read it. Jily (eventually/probably) *Formerly named 'Changing'
1. Gnomes

**I don't own Harry Potter blah blah blah. I also don't own _It's Not Unusual_ by Tom Jones.**

* * *

'Please explain your thought process behind a barber shop quartet of gnomes bewitched to serenade me all day,' Lily snapped irritably, having to raise her voice over the high-pitched warbles coming from her right. 'And why you thought this would get me to go out with you instead of infuriating me.'

Potter looked conflicted. His face seemed as though it couldn't decide whether to don its usual smug grin or if it should instead flush ashamedly. Lily wished that, for once, it would be the latter.

'Moony – Remus – said you told him you liked gnomes,' he said, quietly enough for Lily to have to lean closer to hear him. 'I now realise -' he said much louder '-that my mates are all prats who shouldn't find this funny!'

The two shot looks at the three boys further down the corridor, all laughing hysterically, Black clutching onto Remus's robes so as to prevent himself from collapsing, and Peter with tears flowing steadily down his face.

The gnomes were only growing louder and in fact seemed to be edging closer every time Lily took her eyes off them.

Lily caught Remus's gaze and made a point of dramatically rolling her green eyes. He didn't seem to care that these gnomes he had basically created were causing her rather a lot of grief. She had hoped that whatever charm Potter had somehow managed to use would have worn off by now, but they had been singing for at least forty minutes at this stage and showed no sign of stopping. Luckily the only class they had intruded on was History of Magic, so Professor Binns didn't notice anything out of the ordinary.

Next, however, was Transfiguration. As fond of Lily as Professor McGonagal was, Lily wouldn't bet she'd ever forgive her for bringing a quartet of shrill garden gnomes into her classroom along with their repeated renditions of Tom Jones's _It's Not Unusual_ (which perplexed Lily seeing as Potter had been known to scoff whenever Black talked about Muggle music).

She closed her eyes and sighed dramatically. 'Potter, make these monstrosities shut up, now,' she growled, opening her eyes to glare her angriest glare. Potter took a step back in alarm.

The gnomes seemed to take offence to being referred to as "monstrosities", and began bellowing " _It's not unusual to be mad with anyone"_ over and over, shaking their tiny fists at her in resentment.

Potter took out his wand and aimed it at the gnomes, cleared his throat loudly and shouted, 'Evanesco!'

The gnomes were unaffected.

Potter, cocked his head to the right in confusion. He was rather good at charms (Lily would never admit it but she thought he was even better than her given that he never practised). He looked down at his wand and tried again.

The gnomes turned and looked at him, smirked derisively and returned to shaking their fists at Lily.

Further down the corridor, Black was jeering at Potter's repeated attempts to banish the gnomes, while Peter giggled at his rather accurate impressions of Potter's infuriated face. Remus however, approached Potter and whispered something in his ear. Potter looked horrified and turned to glare at Black.

'You twat!' he exclaimed, running towards his best friend menacingly. 'Take it off now!' Black laughed and stood behind Peter while Potter tried to aim punches at him. 'Now, Padfoot, this isn't funny!'

'It's hilarious!' Peter cried, still laughing hysterically even though he was in imminent danger of being sucker-punched in the face.

Lily leaned towards Remus. 'What's he done?' she asked him as she watched on in irritation and slight amusement.

Remus smirked and let out a soft chuckle. 'He's put a charm on Pro – James's wand so that it doesn't work until a time when Sirius feels like removing it.'

Lily turned to Remus expectantly. 'You know what Potter used on these … things,' she motioned towards the gnomes. 'You can remove it.'

Remus shrugged. 'Where's the fun in that?' he laughed and sauntered back to his friends, feeling Lily's eyes burn into the back of his head as he walked away.

Lily turned to her own friends in exasperation. Marlene was giggling and watching Black with the puppy face she always sported at even the mention of his name. Dorcas was rolling her eyes but smirking at the sight before them anyway. Hestia was paying no attention to the scuffle up ahead, but was cooing over the gnomes, who were still singing and seemed to have taken a liking to her too; they pointed towards her on the lyrics, _"It's not unusual to find that I'm in love with you."_

Professor McGonagal strode through the corridor, her tartan robes flapping around her ankles. Potter stopped trying to injure Black but continued hissing expletives in his direction.

She stopped suddenly in front of the gnomes and sighed. 'What in the name of Merlin is the meaning of this?' she asked tiredly, looking back at Potter and Black.

Black put his hands in the air, indignant at the suggestion that he could possibly have something to do with a horde of high-pitched gnomes following Lily Evans wherever she went. 'Innocent in this one, Professor. We've been trying to convince James here to remove the charm he placed on them but he's simply refusing. I don't know what to do with him, Professor, I really don't.'

McGonagal raised her eyebrows at him and Lily thought she saw a fleeting smirk on her face. 'Mr Black, please undo whatever you have done or face a week of detentions. And yes, that is on top of the one you already have.'

Black looked begrudgingly at Potter and muttered something. Potter's wand emitted a few pink sparks, and Potter once again attempted to make the gnomes shut their tiny little faces. Once again, to no avail.

McGonagal rolled her eyes and waved her wand, and the gnomes simply disappeared. Hestia pouted in disapproval.

'Class, now,' she ordered, and strode off humming Tom Jones as she went.

Lily, glad of the silence, shot one last glare at Potter and followed Professor McGonagal to class.

* * *

Three days later and Lily still had _It's Not Unusual_ stuck in her head. She hummed it in Astronomy, sang it in the shower and had been told off twice for whistling it in the library. Now it was Hestia's turn to tell her to shut up.

'You have a beautiful voice, Lil,' she said. 'But honestly, if I hear that song one more time, I swear to Merlin, I will make you wish you had never been born.'

Lily grimaced. Hestia was sugary-sweet ninety-nine percent of the time, but if pushed she was absolutely terrifying. 'Sorry,' Lily said as she reached for another slice of toast. 'It's stupid Potter and his stupid gnomes. Every time I see him that song comes into my head as if those monstrosities were still here.'

'Speak of the devil,' Dorcas muttered, nodding towards the door. Lily turned to see Potter strutting into the Great Hall, along with Black and Peter. He caught her looking at him and winked at her before sitting down.

Lily rolled her eyes and turned back to her friends. 'What an arrogant toerag,' she huffed. 'How can he not understand that I don't want to go out with him?'

Hestia shrugged, pouring herself a goblet of pumpkin juice. 'He's persistent,' she said, smiling. 'I think it's cute. Shows he really likes you.'

'I don't want him to really like me!' Lily cried. 'I want him to leave me alone!'

Dorcas stood up. 'Class starts in a few minutes and I want to get a seat at the back so Slughorn won't see me finishing my essay. We should get moving.'

Hestia downed her pumpkin juice and stood up. Lily paused. 'I'll meet you guys down there, I won't be late,' she told them. 'And even if I am, Slughorn loves me; I'll be fine. I just have to … talk to someone for a sec.'

Dorcas raised an eyebrow and agreed to save her a seat. She and Hestia walked away and Lily grabbed one more slice of toast, smothered it in jam and walked over to the Slytherin table. 'Sev, can I talk to you for a moment?' she asked.

Severus turned around, sighed and apologised to Rosier and Avery (both of whom sported expressions of pure disgust) and sulkily followed Lily out to the entrance of the Great Hall.

'What do you want, Evans?' he asked, sounding completely and utterly bored.

'Since when do you call me Evans?' Lily raised an eyebrow. 'You haven't spoken to me for ages. We're back at school three weeks now and you haven't said a word to me. You ignored me at King's Cross. I called around to your house over the Christmas holidays but your mum always said you were out, and whenever I wrote to you, you ignored me. What's going on? Did I do something?'

Severus groaned and rolled his eyes. 'No, Lily, you've not done anything,' he said, as if she had said something personally offensive to him. 'I have other friends, you know. So do you.'

Lily frowned, feeling that uncomfortable knot returning to her stomach. 'Sev, why are you ignoring me?' she asked, her voice catching.

Severus met her eyes for a second before looking away quickly. 'I have to get to class, Lily,' he muttered coldly before walking back to his friends. Lily stood where she was for at least a minute, stunned. She couldn't understand why Severus was being so distant. Maybe it was because of that little argument they had in early December. She didn't remember what she'd said but Severus had stormed off and ignored her for the next few days … but then he had resumed talking to her so it couldn't have been that. So what could she have done to set him off?

'You alright, Lily?' Peter asked as he and Potter and Black emerged from the Great Hall. Lily blinked, snapping out of her thoughts.

'Yeah, just a little dizzy is all,' she replied quickly.

Peter's eyebrows furrowed worriedly. Potter and Black continued walking as if they hadn't noticed their friend stopping. 'Are you okay? Did you eat? Should I take you the Hospital Wing? I don't mind and I'm sure Slughorn will be okay with it -'

Lily smiled at him through closed lips. 'I'm fine, Peter, really,' she assured him. 'I'll see you in Potions in a minute.'

Peter looked back at his friends, who were disappearing down the stairs. 'I'll walk with you, make sure you're okay.'

Lily smiled again and he helped her gather up her stuff in the Great Hall. They walked in a comfortable silence all the way down to the dungeons. That was one of the things Lily liked about Peter. She didn't know what it was about him but he was very easy to be around. He always listened, and was happy to sit and not feel pressure to fill the silence with awkward conversation. She would have spent more time with him if he didn't have such terrible choice in company.

They separated in the classroom and sat with their separate groups of friends. Remus was absent, as was Marlene. The morning previous she'd received a letter at breakfast and immediately burst into tears. Lily didn't know why but she didn't want to press her obviously distraught friend. Marlene had been ordered by McGonagal to take a few days off and now she was curled up in her bed, crying. They'd had to bring meals up to her yesterday, and Hestia brought her some porridge this morning but had been sent back down, porridge still in hand.

Potions, usually the class Lily looked forward to the most, failed to maintain her attention for very long. Slughorn had decided they wouldn't be doing any practical potion making today, and instead he talked endlessly about how interesting moonstone was. Under normal circumstances, Lily would pay full attention. But today she was too busy worrying about Marlene and Severus. Plus, Peter kept turning around and mouthing, "Are you okay?" at her, which was very sweet of him, but she wished he would stop.

After being assigned a six inch essay on moonstone and its uses in potion-making, Lily and Hestia headed off to Care of Magical Creatures while Dorcas went to Arithmancy. Lily became rather attached to the Kneazle she and Hestia were given, as did the majority of the class, but she did see Peter's repeatedly bite him.

Sprout was in a rather cheery albeit faraway mood in Herbology, and didn't seem to notice that Potter and Black were paying no attention whatsoever to their fanged geranium, and as a result, Peter was bitten at least five more times.

* * *

Time passed strangely quickly for Lily today and before she knew it, she had gone through a full day of classes and was now heading towards the Great Hall with Hestia and Dorcas. 'I'll bring up some food and eat with Marlene,' she volunteered, and began piling two plates with shepherd's pie and vegetables.

'Marlene?' Lily called tentatively from the door to their shared room. She approached Marlene's four-poster, plates hovering in front of her, and opened the curtains around the bed. 'Oh, Marlene,' she sighed pityingly.

Marlene was lying on her back, still in her pyjamas, staring up at the ceiling. Her blonde hair was a tangle of knots and her blue eyes were bloodshot and puffy from crying. She sat up and feigned a weak smile at Lily, who sat down next to her on the bed and offered her a plate. Marlene accepted it and began eating as though she hadn't seen food in a month.

They ate their dinners in silence and sat there for a few minutes. Lily wasn't sure what to do; her curiosity was burning to find out what was wrong, but she didn't want to pry and end up hurting her friend even more. So she just sat with her and hugged her when she started crying again.

'You look horrifying by the way,' she said. Marlene laughed. And laughed and laughed. Lily didn't know why because it really wasn't all that funny. Chuckle-worthy, maybe. But certainly not worth hysterical fits of laughter. After a bewildered moment, she started laughing too and suddenly couldn't stop.

Marlene's laugh was one of Lily's favourite sounds in the world. It was so musical and happy and reminded her of flying, for some reason. But right now it was different. It wasn't her usual sing-song laugh, but a tinny, hollow, sad kind of laugh that made Lily think of Tuney.

Marlene rested her head on Lily's lap and sighed. 'I love you, Lil.'

'Love you too, Mars Bar.'

'Stop calling me that.'

'Never.'

Marlene smiled. They said nothing for a while, Marlene with her eyes closed and Lily doing her best to untangle Marlene's bird's-nest of hair. She was unsure of how long they sat there for, but it must have been a long time because Hestia and Dorcas entered the room and sat down on Dorcas's bed facing the other two girls.

'Do you want to tell us what's happened?' Hestia asked eventually. 'You don't have to if you're not ready or even if you never want to, but we're worried about you. We want to help however we can.' This was followed with nods of encouragement from Lily and Dorcas.

Marlene sat up again and looked around at her best friends. She said nothing for a few seconds and Lily wondered if she was going to say anything at all, but then she took a deep breath. 'It's my cousin Owen,' she said quietly. 'He was killed.'

Silence hung over them. Marlene paused for a moment before continuing.

'Owen's ... you've met him, Dorcas, he works – worked – in Mr. Mulpepper's in Diagon Alley. He … he's been involved in loads of protests about that stupid anti-werewolf law they're trying to bring in now and stuff like that. He's a really good guy. And on Saturday night, a bunch of those Walpurgis Knight bastards went to his flat and …' Marlene took another deep breath and wiped a tear from her eye. 'He had a baby. He and his wife had just had a baby and they fucking slaughtered all of them!'

Hestia gasped in horror. Dorcas looked at the floor, forlorn. Lily put her arm around a weeping Marlene and tried to comfort her. The other two girls clambered onto Marlene's bed too and soon they were all huddled together, Marlene still crying and the others doing their best not to do the same.

Marlene fell asleep after a few minutes and Hestia tucked her into bed, closing the curtains around her. They other three wordlessly got ready for bed and soon Lily could hear Dorcas snoring gently.

Lily couldn't sleep. She lay in bed for about an hour before retrieving a roll of parchment, a quill and her potions book to begin her essay for Slughorn. After completing all of her homework, she still wasn't tired. She wanted to talk to Sev, or to write to her parents or Tuney, even though she knew she'd never reply.

She drifted off in the early hours of the morning, just as the birds began to sing outside.

* * *

 **If you've got this far, thanks for sticking it out! I have a vague idea of where this is going so I don't have a detailed plan for each chapter, but like I said, vague idea.**

 **Reviews and constructive criticism are much appreciated!**


	2. IHaveNoIdeaWhatToCallThisDontJudgeMePls

**I do not own Harry Potter. Please don't rub it in.**

* * *

Hogsmeade was bustling on Saturday afternoon. The small streets were filled with Hogwarts students out in hordes, with the occasional resident trying to go about their daily business through the crowds.

Marlene seemed to have partially recovered. She had returned to classes on Thursday and resumed her role as the lovable goof. Sometimes Lily would catch glimpses of her when she thought no-one was looking, staring into space and her usual smile nowhere to be seen. So this morning, Hestia had convinced her that what she needed was to go to the Three Broomsticks and have as much butterbeer as they could afford, along with several tonnes of sweets from Honeydukes.

By five o'clock, the sun was setting and more and more people were cramming themselves into the inn, resulting in Madam Rosmerta buzzing around like a fly in order to serve everyone.

'Glad we got here early,' Hestia said, nodding in the direction of the crowd. 'Look at all those poor people who can't get tables.'

'Idiots should have thought ahead,' Dorcas said dismissively.

'Meadowes, I take offence to that!' a voice behind them exclaimed. Lily turned around to see, much to her dismay, Black stood behind them with Peter at his heels. She looked around but couldn't see Potter or Remus anywhere. Black, she didn't mind as much. But she was very glad Potter wasn't there.

Marlene scooted on the bench, causing Lily to wince as her hand was sat upon. 'Sit with us,' she smiled brightly, her eyes focused on Black's. 'We've got room, and it's not fair that we wouldn't share with fellow Gryffindors.'

Black beamed charmingly and plopped down beside her, Peter taking a seat next to Hestia. Marlene and Black fell into immediate conversation about the Montrose Magpies, and Dorcas tried very hard to look like she wasn't listening to them. Peter sat staring at his butterbeer and fiddling with his jumper sleeve until Hestia asked him how his holidays had been, at which point he relaxed considerably and chatted to her with ease.

Lily took a sip of her drink before helping herself to a cauldron cake. The inn was so packed that she was unsure of how the others could hear each other, and didn't hear a voice calling her name until she was tapped gently on the shoulder.

'Can I join you?' Remus asked, holding two over-flowing glasses in his hands. Lily nodded and moved a little closer to Marlene so as to allow him room on the bench. He set the glasses down and turned around. 'Prongs!' he bellowed. 'Lily says you can sit beside her!'

Lily's cheeks flushed. 'No I certainly did not!' she cried indignantly, glaring up at a smirking Remus. 'Why would you say that?!' Remus shrugged and sat down beside Dorcas, who seemed to be trying her best not to look at him. Dorcas could be a little anti-social sometimes, but Lily suspected this was different.

Potter seemed to apparate on the bench beside her, grinning like an idiot. 'So the gnomes did the trick, then, did they? Thawed out your cold, _cold_ heart?'

 _He can't be serious,_ Lily thought, making a face at Remus. Remus didn't care though, as he was now interrupting Black and Marlene to tell them that the best quidditch team was obviously Puddlemore United.

'I'm pulling your leg, Evans,' Potter said, still grinning. 'But I hope you acknowledge the effort that went into that particular one. Bewitching four garden gnomes to serenade you is no easy feat.'

'I'm sure it's not,' Lily replied. 'I presume you thanked Remus for bewitching the gnomes for you?'

Potter put a hand to his heart in mock-offence. 'Evans, I am wounded – _wounded –_ that you would say such a thing. I always thought you to be such a kind and considerate person, but now … now I don't know what to think.'

Lily smirked despite herself, and did her best to cover it by taking a large gulp of her butterbeer. Potter luckily didn't spot this slip as he'd have teased her relentlessly for it if he had. Lily dreaded the very idea of it.

He asked about her Christmas and about her family and about how she was finding being back at Hogwarts, and being on her fourth butterbeer, Lily decided there was no harm in answering his questions. They ended up chatting for about an hour and Lily was surprised how little she hated it. Whenever he said something to make her smile (which was more often than she would have liked), she had to remind herself of how cruel he was to Severus.

Marlene had become very quiet over the hour, and Hestia noticed. She suggested going back to the castle, without drawing attention to Marlene, but the four 'Marauders', as they called themselves, chose to stay for a while longer. Disturbed by how little she was repulsed by Potter's jokes, Lily volunteered to head back too, and Dorcas followed suit.

Marlene and Hestia were walking a metre or two up ahead of Lily and Dorcas, arms linked and giggling about something. Dorcas was quiet, as she always was, but there was a small smile on her lips.

'So you like Remus, huh?' Lily asked.

'Yeah, he's nice,' Dorcas replied nonchalantly. She seemed not to realise what Lily was asking. This was not unusual. The last time Dorcas had a crush (their Head Boy Fabian Prewett when she was in second year), everyone knew about it except Dorcas. Now it seemed no different. Lily decided that since she and Remus spent quite a bit of time together, both being Prefects, she would try to find out if Remus reciprocated Dorcas's feelings. And if he didn't, she wouldn't have any problem with trying to make him have those feelings. Dorcas and Remus made quite a nice couple in her mind.

They made it back to the castle and Marlene retired to bed early – she was attending the funerals of Owen and his family early the next day. Dorcas retreated into a corner and began sketching a Grindylow. Lily and Hestia began to play gobstones, but soon had to give up on their game because of the arrival of a certain rowdy bunch of boys.

'Remus, is that Firewhisky I smell?' Lily demanded. 'You're a _Prefect!_ What sort of example are you setting for the first years?!'

'A fun one,' Remus replied with a smirk, sauntering off to go to bed. Lily frowned and watched him slip spectacularly on the stairs; he had accidentally (or at least Lily hoped it was an accident) attempted to ascend the stairs to the girls' dorms. Potter, Black and Peter all found this hilarious, and Black actually fell to the ground with laughter. Remus rose from the floor and began laughing too, before vomiting on a passing first year.

 _A fun example,_ Lily scoffed as she did her best to console the now-weeping first year while Hestia helped him wash the vomit from his clothes. _How many people think being vomited on is fun?_

The boys went upstairs and were still to be heard giggling by the time Lily retreated to bed, wondering if Dorcas still harboured feelings for Remus after witnessing that spectacle.

* * *

Lily spent the majority of the next day by herself. Hestia required Dorcas's help in studying as she had only scraped an A in her Christmas exam for Ancient Runes, and with Marlene at home in Bristol, Lily had no-one to spend time with.

She decided to track Severus down today, when he couldn't say he had to get to class. The problem was, Severus was nowhere to be found. Lily asked many Slytherins, most of whom apologised and said they hadn't seen him. Others (such as Mulciber and his gang of supremacist toerags) simply ignored her, or sneered at her as if she was nothing more than a piece of gum on their shoe. Eventually she was told that Severus didn't want to talk to her and that she should clear off before she got what was coming to her.

Lily, infuriated, stormed down to the dungeons to Slughorn's classroom. She didn't know exactly why she chose this as her place of refuge (the Head of Slytherin was hardly the ideal place to shelter from Slytherins) but she had always liked Slughorn and she knew for a fact that she was his star pupil – he had said so quite a few times, in front of the class no less.

She flung the door open in anger and stood in the doorway for a few seconds, fuming. Slughorn looked around from the shelves he was stocking to see her. 'Lily,' he smiled, sound genuinely pleased to see her. 'What can I do for you, my dear?'

Lily closed the door behind her and thought about what she was actually doing here. She was wasting his time on something petty that must have happened all the time, and she was better off just going back upstairs and keeping it to herself.

Slughorn set down the bottles in his hands and walked over to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. 'Lily, my dear, are you alright?'

Lily looked up at him and shook her head forlornly. 'I don't know what's wrong with me,' she murmured.

'Are you ill? Shall I take you to see Madam Pomfrey?' Slughorn asked. Lily shook her head vehemently. Slughorn paused for a moment or two. 'How about a cup of tea?' he said. 'I have a box of Ginger Newts I've been meaning to open, and my good friend Ambrosius kindly gifted me with an extraordinarily large bag of crystallised pineapple yesterday.'

Lily smiled and nodded. She felt very small suddenly, but safe, like she was being wrapped in a blanket. She was reminded of when she was much younger. She used to be scared of thunder, so whenever there was a storm she would creep into Tuney's room and they'd curl up together under the blankets.

She had only been in Slughorn's office a few times before, and was always amazed by how much light shone in despite it being in the dungeon. Slughorn explained to her once how he got Professor Flitwick to enchant the windows so that it was always sunny, even if there was a hurricane outside.

Slughorn motioned to a large leather armchair in front of his desk in which Lily sat, and sat down in his own smaller upholstered armchair. He tapped a bottle-green teapot with his wand, and it emitted a jet of steam before pouring tea into two bottle-green cups. Slughorn passed a cup to Lily and offered her a Ginger Newt, which she accepted without hesitation.

'So, Lily,' he said after a minute or two. 'Would you like to tell me what's wrong? Is there anything I can do for you?'

Lily looked down at the cup in her hand and took a deep breath. 'It's just … Professor, some Slytherins are … they're just cruel and horrible and did you see what Avery said to Mary MacDonald? They're despicable and ignorant and today some of those supremacist bigots threatened me because I was looking for my friend! Because I had the audacity to even be in their presence! Those narcissistic, egotistical, self-entitled, evil bast -!'

'-Lily, I think you'd better stop that sentence there,' Slughorn chimed in quickly. He paused to think about how best to respond to Lily's outburst. 'That sort of behaviour will not be tolerated, my dear, especially in my House. Tell me who said what to you and I assure you, they will be severely punished.'

Lily frowned. 'But Professor, it's not about what was said to me today. It's about the fact that Mary MacDonald is scared to even go to the bathroom alone any more. If you're a muggle-born, you're ignored – or worse. If your family are what they call "blood-traitors" then you're just as disgusting to them. I'm not asking you to punish the people who said things to me today, because that will only make it worse. I'm asking you to teach your students that blood purity means nothing any more. The only pure bloods left at this stage have got to be either lying or inbred! That's how stupid this whole thing is!'

Slughorn was slightly amused by what Lily had just said, but did try not to show it. He explained how he had made a point of telling his students that discrimination of any kind would not be tolerated, but they had ignored him.

'That's because you're tolerating the intolerable discrimination!' Lily cried, exasperated and furious. 'How are they supposed to have any respect for authority if authority fails to make good on its threats?!'

'Miss Evans, I think maybe you should go to your common room and calm yourself down,' Slughorn said, suddenly cold. 'Five points from Gryffindor – yes, Miss Evans, I'm serious! You should have a lot more respect for your teachers, especially as a Prefect! I will be sure to tell Professor McGonagal about this.'

Lily stared at him, stunned. Slughorn had always been so kind and understanding. It wasn't as if she was insulting him personally. Maybe he believed all this blood-purity bullshit? No, Slughorn wouldn't. He couldn't. Right?

She wordlessly stood up and left the dungeons, and retreated to an empty corner in the library to read _._

* * *

She must have fallen asleep because the only thing Lily remembered before being screamed at and exiled from the library was reading something about Cliodna the druidess and thinking about how heavy her eyelids felt. She apologised and hastily scurried from the library, being stared after by many students.

Still bitter from her conversation with Slughorn, she stormed through the castle, ignoring the stares, until she arrived back at the Gryffindor common room. Hestia and Dorcas were still bent over their books and many scrolls of parchment, and Lily didn't want to disturb them as she knew Hestia was quite stressed about her grades. So instead, Lily went up to her bed and rooted around in her bedside table for a quill and some paper.

 _Dear Mum and Dad,_

 _How's everything back home? Is Dad's knee still killing him? (I told you you were too old to play football!) How is Petunia finding London? I wrote to her about a fortnight ago, but she hasn't replied. Please tell her I hope she settles in soon._

 _Things here are … different. Severus still isn't talking to me. I tried to ask him why but he just left. It's quite sad because as you know, Severus was the first person who told me about magic and Hogwarts. When I go home for the holidays, Severus is my link to Hogwarts, and when I'm at school he's my link back home._

 _Marlene (remember her? She came over in July for a sleepover. Mum kept asking if she could do her 'beautiful hair') has had some bad news and is trying to put on a brave face, but I know she's very upset. I don't know why I told you two that! Don't mind me. Ignore that!_

 _Anyway, there's been a shift in the mood in school recently. I told you over Christmas how some people have become obsessed with the idea of 'blood-purity' – don't worry, I don't get it either – and things are getting a little out of hand. It's quite worrying for me if I'm honest, but I had a word with Professor Slughorn (my Potions teacher) and he said he'd do his best to sort things out._

 _Remember I told you about Professor Dumbledore and his ridiculous new hat in my last letter? Update – the hat burst into flames at dinner last week. No-one knows quite why and Dumbledore didn't seem surprised. It's almost as if he bought it with the intention of causing disaster and giving us all something to talk about. Honestly, I wouldn't put it past him. We're talking about a man who once bewitched snowmen to follow people and throw snowballs at them. I saw him giggling to himself from the window when an army of snowmen were targeting Slughorn._

 _I'm feeling a little off since I got back. Obviously, I love Hogwarts and I'm delighted to be back, but something's just got me feeling a bit … down. I don't know what it is but I just feel a bit sad most of the time for no reason at all, and the only word I can think of to describe the feeling is nostalgic. I don't know what's wrong with me. I should be feeling great – I love being back at Hogwarts, I love being with my friends all the time. I guess I just miss you two and maybe even Tuney. Maybe!_

 _You forgot to include what happened in_ Doctor Who _last week in your last letter. I was talking to another Muggle-born and she said her parents told her about it, and she has been telling me about all this stuff that supposedly happened in the episode, but I don't know which parts are true and which parts she's teasing me with. She told me Sarah Jane died._ PLEASE _tell me that's not true._

 _Please don't send me anything for my birthday. All I want is a card. No repeats of last year's_ 221B Baker Street _fiasco. While I appreciated the idea of a board game to play with my friends (even if the board game completely exhausted the poor owl who had to carry it for miles), and you know I love Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson, my wizarding friends have no idea who they are._

 _I wish I could see you for my sixteenth. It's a big day, and I miss you two. I feel like you should be with me when I turn into an almost-adult. I guess I'll just have to wait until Easter. I miss you guys a lot._

 _I don't have anything else to write here. I love you and I miss you loads! Write soon please. Sending all the love and hugs and kisses in the world,_

 _Lily._

Lily wrapped herself in a coat and scarf, then took the letter and began the trek to the Owlery. It was hailing outside and she regretted not bringing a hat with her. She had to run so as not to be injured by the massive pellets of ice thundering down from the heavens.

When she made it to the Owlery, she climbed what felt like a thousand slippery steps and picked herself up from the floor twice as a result of the slippery steps. Once inside, she selected a small tawny and attached the letter to his leg. She carried him over to the window and watched as he hooted happily before taking flight.

* * *

 **So Lily was the original WhoLock fangirl - if _Supernatural_ existed, I'm sure she would have loved that too. **

**Anyhoo, I now have a plan for the next ten chapters or so. That doesn't necessarily mean anything (me being me, Procrastinator Extraordinaire), but there should be more chapters coming soon(ish). _SHOULD._**

 **Reviews make my day, even if they're only one or two words. Please let me know what you think, and if you have any suggestions, PM me or just comment.**

 **Thanks if you made it this far!**


	3. Firewhisky

**I do not own HP, Thin Lizzy, The Who, or _Slip Kid_. Obviously.**

* * *

The next week was uneventful – aside, of course, from the Marauders plaguing the school by setting up at least a hundred time-released dung bombs all over the castle. The stench was still present in the Great Hall three days after the initial attack, and threatened not to go away.

Lily sat at breakfast with her friends, beaming as they sang a deafening chorus of _Happy Birthday_ , which several other students joined in on. When they finally stopped singing and applauding, Lily thanked them for their gifts: the first three issues of _The Adventures of Martin Miggs, the Mad Muggle_ from Dorcas (an avid reader of the comics), an emerald ring from Hestia, and an enormous box filled to the brim with Honeydukes sweets from Marlene.

'So are we gonna have a party?' Marlene asked excitedly. 'I could talk to Sirius about getting some Firewhisky – or butterbeer if you're too much of a wimp – and it's Friday, so we won't have to do homework or go to classes early in the morning.'

Lily shrugged as she buttered her toast. 'I don't know if I feel like partying,' she said. 'We couldn't just commandeer the common room so we could get pissed. Plus, I have a prefect meeting at six, and I don't know how long that would go on for.'

Black sidled up to the four girls. 'Marlene, I heard you wanted to talk to me about procuring something,' he drawled. He slid into the seat beside Lily and lightly punched her on the shoulder. 'Happy birthday, granny,' he laughed.

'You're older than me,' Lily replied, smiling. 'And as it happens, we don't need to procure anything from you.'

Black shrugged and didn't seem to understand that Lily was politely asking him to leave. He sat with them, listening to their conversation and sometimes commenting on it as if he was actually one of the group.

'Aren't your friends missing you?' Lily asked pointedly.

'They're still upstairs,' Black replied quickly. 'Anyway, Hestia, this Sebastian guy sounds like a right tosser, I'd say just stop writing back and -'

'Padfoot,' Potter appeared behind them with Remus and Peter. 'You said you'd wait for us to come down here. Evans, happy birthday. Just for today, I promise not to set off another dung-bomb.'

Remus shook his head. 'Can't promise that, I'm afraid. Wormtail and I already set some up in the library, the second greenhouse, the astronomy tower, the third-floor corridor, Binns' classroom -'

'- Stop giving away all our locations!' Peter snapped at him. 'Happy birthday, Lily. I have something for you but I left it upstairs, hang on.' He turned on his heel and dashed out of the Great Hall, his robes billowing out behind him.

Remus stared after him until he was no longer in view before squeezing in between Black and Lily. 'Miss Evans, I wish you a wonderful birthday. Looking forward to the prefect meeting tonight? I promise there won't be a dung-bomb.'

'There'll be a dung-bomb, won't there?'

'Almost certainly.'

Peter returned, wheezing and clutching a purple envelope. He handed it to Lily, holding his sides and gasping for breath, and stood anxiously awaiting her response. Lily smiled and opened it.

'Wow, a card,' Potter said flatly. 'How original.'

Peter glared at him, as did Lily. The card itself was illustrated with flowers, and every so often a fairy would duck out from behind a leaf or a petal to flutter around. Lily's face broke out into a smile as she opened it. Peter hadn't written much but she still thought it was a very sweet gesture.

Lily beamed at Peter and stood up to hug him. He looked rather pleased with himself and made a point of nodding smugly at a sour-looking Potter once they'd sat down again. Black and Remus smirked at each other and began praising Peter for his thoughtfulness, which only proved to irk Potter even more.

There was a loud hoot overhead, and suddenly the Great Hall was filled with owls swooping over the tables. A handsome snowy owl flew gracefully over to them and dropped a large parcel in front of Lily before landing on Marlene's toast.

Marlene and Lily groaned in unison. 'I told them not to send anything!' Lily lamented as she opened the card attached. Her parents had sent her a gaudy pink card with a great glittering _"Sweet Sixteen"_ emblazoned on the front. Her mother had covered the inside of the card with writing on how much they loved her and how proud of her they were. Her father had signed at the bottom beside crudely drawn image of a birthday cake surrounded by presents.

Hestia, looking over Lily's shoulder, giggled. 'Your mum's a bit full-on, isn't she?' she pointed to the essay Lily's mum had written.

Lily nodded and began unwrapping the parcel her parents had sent against their better judgement. Inside was a box of home-made fudge, several books ( _Curtain, The Hour of The Star, Last Bus to Woodstock_ and what she supposed they thought was funny; _The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy tales_ ) and a horrendous green cardigan that looked as though it could grow legs and run around like a terrifying green hairy cat.

Lily excused herself to leave her presents in her room before class, and made her way out of the Great Hall. She had gotten no farther than the stairs before she heard a voice quietly call out to her. She turned around to see Severus leaning against a pillar, out of sight to anyone who wasn't looking for him.

'Happy birthday, Lily,' he smiled, outstretching his arm to hand her a small gift-wrapped parcel. She looked down at the glittering red package he held in a mixture of confusion and joy. 'I know I've been … distant, but I'm still your friend.'

Lily accepted his gift and added it to the pile of presents she was already carrying. 'Why have you been distant? And please answer me this time.'

Severus fidgeted uncomfortably. 'Listen, Lily, I can't talk right now,' he murmured, looking over his shoulder as students began filing out of the Great Hall to go to class. 'Can I see you later? At the lake at seven, at our spot.'

Lily gave a quiet "hmph" of disapproval, but accepted anyway, seeing as she doubted she would get answers any other time. 'Fine,' she smiled. 'I have to get these upstairs or I'll be late, but I'll see you later.'

Severus nodded, smiling nervously and retreated down to the dungeons. Lily ascended the many flights of stairs to get to the common room.

* * *

The prefect meeting was relocated (Lily made sure of it after what Remus had said at breakfast) to a classroom on the second floor. While Professor McGonagal and Professor Slughorn bickered about certain prefects overstepping their boundaries (Sarah Dawlish and Gerard Bode of Slytherin), while Professor Flitwick and Professor Sprout attempted to mediate.

The clock struck half past six. The meeting had been running for almost forty minutes now, and several prefects actually looked to be nodding off with boredom – Remus included. Lily however, was rather preoccupied with the tall dark-haired boy sitting across from her. Benjy Fenwick was the Gryffindor prefect of sixth year, and since becoming a prefect herself and spending more time with him as a result, Lily found herself developing a bit of a crush.

Benjy was one of the few prefects not to be bored, and actually seemed to be finding the arguing Professors quite amusing. Every now and then, McGonagal would say something scathing (she was renowned for her sharp tongue) and Benjy would give a small smile. Lily felt her stomach leap on every such occasion.

Remus jolted in his chair and sat up in alarm. Lily looked at him questioningly, but he brushed it off and watched the teachers.

'Try and see this from my point of view, Minerva!' Slughorn cried. 'You are accusing my students of abusing their authority, which I see as a personal assault on my students and on my methods as a teacher!'

McGonagal gave a sharp intake of breath. 'I am trying to see it from your point of view, _Horace_ ,' she exclaimed. 'But I can't seem to get my head that far up my -!'

'What is that putrid smell?' Professor Sprout interrupted, and was shot a glare by McGonagal. Lily looked over at Remus, who was biting his lip in a vain attempt to keep from laughing. His face had gone the same shade of red as Professor Sprout's obnoxious cape and tears were welling in the corners of his eyes.

'You didn't!' she hissed in fury.

'I didn't,' he replied. 'It was Wormtail.' With that, he doubled over in laughter as a toxic-looking green gas spread around the room. It was unmistakably another dung-bomb, smelling even fouler than Lily remembered. The prefects and the teachers scrambled for the door, hands over mouths and noses, shoving each other out of the way in order to escape the gas quicker.

Outside the door stood the Marauders, along with Marlene. Remus high-fived Peter and the four boys began howling in uncontrollable laughter. Lily rolled her eyes, and then glared at Marlene for giggling along with the boys.

'Lily,' Benjy said, coming up behind her. 'Happy birthday. Hope that didn't ruin your day,' he pointed back towards the classroom, where green smoke was escaping from under the door while Professor Flitwick attempted to seal it off.

Lily's stomach churned and she was suddenly very aware of her arms hanging uselessly by her side. 'Thanks, Benjy,' she stammered, folding her arms in an effort to make them look less stupid, before relaxing them again almost immediately. 'How's you? - I mean, how are you?' she asked, blushing furiously.

Marlene smirked beside her.

'I'm well, thanks. And you? I know the teachers can be a bit full-on with the work this time of year, with the OWLS and all,' he replied, smiling.

Lily nodded a little too vigorously. 'Yeah, they've gone a bit okay, but I'm mad. No! I'm okay. They're mad. Sorry.'

Benjy nodded, and smiled again. Lily felt her stomach give another jolt. They stood in silence for several seconds before Benjy said, 'Well, I'll see you later.'

'We're having a party,' Lily blurted out. 'In the common room. You should come. If you can, I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to but I just thought -'

'Sounds great,' Benjy grinned. Lily's stomach was now doing somersaults and she felt as though she might throw up. 'See you there.' He strode off and Lily and Marlene stared after him.

'That was physically painful to watch,' Marlene laughed once he had rounded a corner. 'And you said we weren't having a party.'

Lily groaned. 'Why, _why_ did you let me say that?!' she exclaimed, hitting Marlene on the shoulder. 'Now we're going to have to have a party, and on such short notice, Black won't be able to get any -'

'I think you'll find, Miss Evans, that Black can get anything whenever he wishes,' Black seemed to appear before them, even though Lily had seen him and his friends walking away as she was talking to Benjy. 'Now what is it that you require?'

Lily simply stared at him. How on earth had he done that?

'We need Firewhisky,' Marlene said when she realised Lily wasn't going to answer. 'And butterbeer and some Honeydukes sweets as well, and some party food and music. We're having a party in the common room.'

Black faked a gasp. 'Miss Evans! You? _Firewhisky?!_ Well, I never!'

'Can you get it or not?!' Lily snapped, suddenly filled with dread and urgency.

Black smirked. 'Of course, milady,' he drawled. He sauntered away, reaching into his pocket and extracting a piece of tatty parchment before turning the corner.

* * *

'Remind me why we're doing this,' Lily moaned as Hestia applied several layers of mascara to Lily's eyes. 'Remind me why I even agreed to a party in the first place.' She had already been forced into a rather tight green dress of Marlene's and a pair of glittery pumps she had vowed never to wear. Now she was having an entire cosmetics range applied to her face.

'Because you're in lurve,' Marlene laughed, plaiting Dorcas's hair. 'And you want to impress the gallant and dashing Benjamin Fenwick.'

Lily groaned again as Hestia and Marlene giggled. The four girls continued primping until a first year knocked on the door and told Marlene that Black had returned. Marlene dashed downstairs to get the common room set up, and Hestia overtook the role of Dorcas's make-up artist.

Music began blaring from the common room and Lily took a deep breath before ascending the stairs. Black had somehow managed it.

There was a table looking as though it could collapse with the weight of the many, many bottles of Firewhisky and butterbeer. A table on the opposite side of the room was piled high with chocolate frogs, Bertie Botts every flavour beans, pumpkin pasties, chocolate cauldrons, and just about everything sold in Honeydukes. Another table right beside was laden with a selection of sausage rolls, pizzas, chicken wings and drumsticks, and several bowls of crisps.

Lily's favourite part of the food selection stood in the corner of the room; an enormous chocolate fountain, with bowls of strawberries, raspberries and marshmallows beside it. This also seemed to be a hit with the rest of the students, as several were congregated around it in delight.

Marlene had hung red and gold bunting all around the room, and there were several strings of gold confetti falling from the ceiling like snow. Black sidled up to Lily as she was admiring the décor. 'Impressed, milady?' he said. 'I went to great lengths to acquire everything here, although I did have help from the boys. James was more than happy to lend a hand when he heard whose party it was.'

Lily scoffed. 'When has Potter ever been happy to help anyone but himself?'

Black raised his eyebrows. 'You'd be surprised, Evans. James is a very generous and helpful person. Anyway, you like my music choice? _Thin Lizzy_ are a particular favourite of mine. I've always said you muggles know your music.'

Lily nodded in approval. 'Yeah, it's good. A little heavy for my tastes but I appreciate the effort. I owe you a lot for this, Black. Thank you.'

Black grinned his signature grin and walked away with a wink, leaving Lily smiling like a fool in his wake. 'I wonder how he did it,' Hestia said, appearing by Lily's side from nowhere. 'Get to Hogsmeade and back with all of this so quickly. And with a chocolate fountain of all things! Can't have been easy lugging all of this back to the castle either.'

'He said his friends helped him,' Lily said. 'But that still doesn't explain how he got to Hogsmeade and back within the hour that we last saw him. And how did he pay for all of this stuff?'

Hestia shrugged. 'One of life's great mysteries,' she said. 'Anyway, I'm going to go talk to Dorcas; she looks a little … well, Dorcas.'

She walked over to the other girl, who was admittedly looking extremely awkward and uncomfortable beside the fireplace. Lily made her way over to the chocolate fountain and took an enormous marshmallow from a bowl that seemed to keep refilling itself. She was tapped on the shoulder and turned around to see Remus standing behind her, a bottle of Firewhisky in his grip and his mouth ringed in chocolate as if he had deemed the marshmallows unnecessary and just stuck his face in the fountain instead.

'Nice party, Evans,' he said. 'Whoever organised it is a party genius and deserves the highest of praise.'

Lily laughed. 'Thanks, Remus. Black told me you helped, so thanks a lot. I know it was short notice, and it was a lot to ask, but you guys came through and it means a lot. So thanks. If you ever need anything, I owe you.'

'Obviously,' Remus said simply, and walked away. Lily smiled, bemused, and helped herself to the chocolate fountain.

* * *

By one o'clock in the morning, Lily was almost finished her third Firewhisky. Some students had already gone to bed (or passed out on the sofa like Mary MacDonald), but most remained. Several pairs were dancing in the centre of the room (including Frank Longbottom and Alice Fortescue who were slow-dancing to their own rhythm), while some were in dark corners snogging sloppily. Lily and Hestia watched on in disgust as Alan Fielding of fourth year and Vesta, Hestia's little sister, seemed to be trying to swallow each other's faces.

Hestia shuddered, announced that she was going to bed and walked away. Lily looked around for Marlene, who was nowhere to be seen, and Dorcas, who was chatting and laughing happily with Remus. Lily smiled and decided not to interrupt. Instead, she downed the last of her Firewhisky and went to get another.

Peter and Black were on the other side of the room, standing with Potter, and making ridiculous hand gestures while Potter scowled. Lily assumed they were imitating his earlier atrocious dance moves. Marlene appeared out of nowhere beside Black and the two of them retreated out of the common room. Lily would have been curious as to what they were doing spending so much time together, but she had started her fourth Firewhisky and didn't care about much any more.

'How do you like your party?' Benjy asked, joining her in her observation corner. 'I wouldn't have thought _The Who_ was quite your thing.'

'Black is tonight's DJ,' Lily explained. 'You know Muggle music?'

Benjy nodded, explaining how his mother was Muggle-born and as a result, he had Muggle cousins who introduced him to all sorts of "weird Muggle culture." Lily immediately engaged him in a verging-on-aggressive conversation about Sherlock Holmes, which he shared a mild interest in.

After about half an hour, Lily found herself much closer in proximity to Benjy than she had expected to be. Without realising it, they had drifted over to a quieter corner of the room, away from Black bellowing the lyrics to _Slip Kid,_ away from Peter and Potter dancing (if you could even call it dancing), and were now standing so close together that Lily could count Benjy's individual eyelashes.

He seemed to realise this too because he suddenly blinked in surprise and took a step back, clearing his throat nervously. 'More Firewhisky?' he asked, looking at his feet as if they were the most interesting thing he'd ever seen.

Lily nodded and he took her empty bottle to return to the almost-empty refreshment table. Marlene, who had been watching the two of them with great earnest from across the room, hurried over with a huge grin on her face. 'Well hey there, Lovebird,' she giggled. 'And when do you plan on finally kissing the dashing Sir Fenwick? I'm sure he wouldn't be opposed to a bit of tongue-wrestling.'

Lily mimed vomiting. 'Please never, _ever_ say "tongue-wrestling" ever again. Ever,' she grimaced. 'Anyway, what are you doing spending so much time with Black? I know he's … admittedly very handsome, but I don't think he's exactly … your type of … oh, you know what I mean!'

Marlene's face continued to don its grin, and she did nothing to acknowledge that she had even heard Lily's question. Instead, she began making kissing noises, pointing towards Benjy and then back at Lily.

'I hate you.'

'You love me,' Marlene replied. 'And you certainly love the future Mr Evans.'

'That's not how it works; if we were to be married, then I would take his – _we're not getting married!_ ' Lily exclaimed, as Marlene began humming _Here Comes the Bride_. Benjy returned to Lily's side, handing her another bottle of Firewhisky and shooting Marlene a questioning look. Marlene immediately shut up, winked at Lily and disappeared, grinning from ear to ear.

Lily felt her face flush and was fairly sure her cheeks were close in colour to her hair. In an effort to hide this from Benjy, she took her hair out from the bun on top of her head and let it hang around her face. Benjy, however, seemed to prefer her hair out of her face, and tucked a strand of it behind her ear. She blushed again, her stomach leaping and her heart beating so quickly it was actually painful, and looked down at her bottle of Firewhisky.

It took her a few seconds to realise that Benjy's hand had travelled down from her ear and was now resting gently in the crook of her neck. Lily's eyes darted across the room to see Marlene with her hands clasped, beaming with excitement as she watched them. Lily got the feeling that Marlene was much more invested in this situation than Lily was.

Lily looked back up at Benjy and smiled. He was staring at her lips and she couldn't stop staring at his. He leaned in and kissed her and Lily's heart seemed to go into overdrive. She heard Marlene give a little gasp from across the room.

When their lips parted, Lily smiled up at Benjy and he returned her small grin. Marlene was squealing, looking around for someone to jump around in excitement with. Peter seemed to be the only available option, and so she stole him from Potter and shook him with delight.

Peter, completely bewildered, went along with this and even smiled with her, leaving his dance partner to stare, forlorn, at the newly-formed couple, kissing earnestly in the corner of the common room.

* * *

 **Mwahahahahaha I feel awful. Does it come across that I was super-uncomfortable while writing that last bit?**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoyed! Review please. I would _LOVE_ some feedback, so let me know what you think. Thanks to those that have favourited and followed - really means a lot. Thank you.**

 **Seriously, please review. Please.**


	4. Blossoms

**I don't own Harry Potter blahblahblahblahblah**

* * *

Rumours were flying around the castle by breakfast time the next morning about two newly-formed couples; Lily Evans and Benjy Fenwick, and Dorcas Meadowes and Remus Lupin. Dorcas had failed to tell Lily of her new romantic development until the two of them went down to breakfast in the Great Hall when a fourth year mentioned it in passing.

'You seemed so happy with your own "romantic development" that I didn't want to … you know, steal your thunder, or whatever,' Dorcas said nonchalantly as she slipped a Knut into the owl's leather pouch in exchange for the _Daily Prophet_. 'I didn't think it was that important anyway.'

Lily stared at her friend in confusion and exasperation. When it seemed that Dorcas was in fact serious, Lily shook her head and continued eating her porridge. 'So … how was it? Snogging Remus, I mean. Was he good?'

Dorcas shrugged. 'I don't really have any frame of reference,' she said. 'I suppose it was quite nice. A bit weird and sloppy at first, but it was okay.'

Lily blinked, again confused by her friend's calmness in response to the new development in her life. 'What do you mean, "no frame of reference"? Haven't you ever … kissed someone before? Never?'

Dorcas shook her head. 'Not a big deal, is it?'

Lily wasn't sure whether Dorcas meant that in reference to the fact that she had never kissed anyone before last night, or saying that kissing wasn't all it was cracked up to be. She chose not to delve any further into this conversation and shook her head. 'No, not a big deal.'

They ate their breakfast in silence, apart from Dorcas sometimes remarking on something she read in the _Prophet_ , until Hestia and Marlene appeared. Marlene was wincing at the loud chatter in the hall, and being guided to the table by Hestia as if she couldn't walk independently.

'Good morning, darlings – or am I still allowed to call you that now that you're both someone else's darlings?' Hestia greeted them cheerfully, plopping down beside Dorcas. Marlene, squinting, tentatively took the seat to Lily's left and reached for the toast. 'I'm afraid Mars Bar here has a bit of a headache, if you know what I mean and I'm sure youdo,' Hestia continued. 'Actually, Lil, your friend Severus stopped us on the way in here. He said he wanted to talk to you ASAP in the same place as the one you were supposed to meet him at yesterday.'

Lily's heart stopped. 'Shit. Shitshitshitshitshitshitshit. Shit,' she muttered, smacking her hand against her forehead. 'Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit.'

She stood up from the table so quickly she accidentally knocked Marlene off her seat. Marlene was slow to rise from the floor and glowered at Lily as she did so. 'I've gotta go, guys,' Lily apologised. 'I was supposed to meet Sev yesterday but we had that party, he must have been there for – oh, Merlin, I have to go!'

And with that hurried explanation, Lily turned on her heels and sprinted outside. She cursed forgetfulness – both for last night and for leaving her coat in the Great Hall. It was bitter outside. There had been a mixture of snow and sleet the night previous and everything outside was slippery, which meant that Lily fell no less than four times before reaching Severus under the giant chestnut tree by the lake.

'Sev!' she cried, breathless, as she approached him. 'Sev, I'm so sorry! My friends threw me a party and with that and the prefect meeting, I completely forgot! I am so, so sorry! Honestly, I don't know how I could have been so _stupid_ , I'm so sorry. Are you okay? Are we okay?'

Severus looked down at her. 'No, Lily, we are not okay,' he grimaced. 'We haven't spoken in weeks and then when I actually make an effort to talk to you, you "forgot" and end up at a party, kissing that _Fenwick_ of all people -'

'What's wrong with Benjy?' Lily interrupted, sensing another one of his rants coming on. 'And don't act like you were waiting for me to reach out to you when that's clearly what I was doing all along! Which one of us ignored the other when the other specifically saved them a seat on the train? Which one of us pretended not to be home when the other called around? Don't act like I'm the bad guy in that situation. I understand, of course, you being mad that I forgot about yesterday, but - no, let me finish – but you can't act all "holier than thou" because I slipped up one time. Especially when you've been nothing but a dick of late.'

Severus blinked. He said nothing for a while; he just stared at her with such hurt in his eyes that she wondered if she had said something even more offensive than she had meant it to be. 'Did you like your gift?' he asked eventually, in a voice so quiet she could barely hear him above the wind.

Lily felt a stab of guilt. Severus's gift remained where she had left it yesterday morning before darting off to class. It lay beneath the hairy green cardigan, unopened, untouched and out of her mind until just now.

Her prolonged silence told Severus what had happened.

'So what? You threw it in a corner and _forgot_ about it? You're very forgetful recently, aren't you, Lily?' he cried. 'Do you wish you could _forget_ me altogether and just exist happily, gallivanting around with your popular friends, and your popular _boyfriend_ ,' he spat, 'and popular _Potter_ and his popular cronies -'

'I'm not even friends with Potter!' Lily exclaimed, insulted at the very idea that she could even tolerate that toerag. 'Where on earth did you get that idea?!'

'Oh please, you two in the Three Broomsticks last weekend?' Severus sneered. 'Sitting together, drinking, you laughing at all of his stupid jokes! Or at least, you used to think they were stupid. Do you agree with his dim-witted observations now, Lily? Has being friends with him rotted your brain that much?'

Lily was speechless. She couldn't for a moment believe that Severus, of all people, was accusing her of being friends with Potter. With _Potter_! How dare he? When he who, of all people, knew of her hatred for the boy, her disdain for just about anything he did! Friends with _Potter_. She scoffed.

'I spoke with him then because his friends were talking to my friends, and it was easier than sitting uncomfortably in silence for over an hour. Are you honestly angry about me politely laughing at someone's jokes? Sev, you're being ridiculous.'

Severus seemed to swell with rage. 'Me? _Me being ridiculous_? Lily, how don't you see that you're in the wrong here?! We haven't spoken for weeks – yes it _is_ your fault! - and when I reach out, you go to a party and act like a slut – oh, _please_ , Avery told me his cousin told him she'd seen you do a lot more than kissing in that corner! - and when I make an effort to get you a present I knew you'd love, you toss it in a corner and forget about it! And now you're friends with that imbecile!'

'For the last time, _we are not friends_!' Lily roared. 'I detest Potter and you know it! Not that it matters. And who is this cousin of Avery's? Because I am one hundred per cent sure he doesn't have any cousin in Gryffindor! Even if he did, there would be nothing to see, because I only _kissed_ Benjy!'

Severus refused to say another word. He stood in the exact same position, as if petrified, outraged. Lily yelled at him a bit more for his stupidity before storming off back to the castle, where it was warm and no one was accusing her of befriending a toerag.

* * *

Lily spent the rest of the weekend fuming and there was nothing her friends or even Benjy could do about it, try as they might. Sunday came and went, with Lily still refusing to explain the cause of her wrath, and by Monday morning, her friends were almost too afraid to ask. Almost.

'If you tell us what's wrong, you'll feel better. A trouble shared is a trouble halved,' Hestia chimed as she took her place in the Potions room. She was shot a reproachful look and hastily changed the subject. 'Did anyone actually get that essay done? I only got about three quarters of it done. Twelve inches is just too much.'

'That's what she said,' Black slid into the bench adjacent. 'How's the German? What's his name again? Sebastian, right? Anyway, Lily I don't know what you did to Snivellus but he's just not the same old bubbly Snivellus we all know and love. Even a good-natured skull engorgement – not that he needs it – couldn't cheer him up.'

Lily simply glared at him and went back to leafing through her textbook. Black was joined by his friends, two of whom waved cheerfully at Lily. The other, who usually winked or requested Lily's hand in marriage, said nothing. He just sat down beside Black and began discussing quidditch strategies for the game at the weekend.

Professor Slughorn ambled in, squeezing down the aisle, muttering, "someone been moving these ruddy desks closer together". Lily suspected it might just have been an excess of crystallised pineapples. He took his place at the top of the classroom and began telling them about the Draught of Peace.

Lily found herself unable to pay attention for the second time in as many weeks, and chided herself for being surprised when the rest of the class stood up to begin brewing their potions. She hurriedly followed suit and was soon stirring an orange liquid in her cauldron.

'Perfect, as ever, Miss Evans,' Slughorn beamed as he drifted between desks. Dorcas, who was sweating over grey sludge, scowled. 'I have something for you, after class. I think you'd be very interesting – interested, I mean.'

Lily smiled back at him and went back to shaking more porcupine quills to add to her cauldron. Marlene and Hestia looked at each other knowingly and went back to trying not to set themselves ablaze, as a student in the year above had famously done with this same potion last year.

Slughorn announced that time was up some time later, and Lily poured her white potion into a phial to present to him. It seemed only she had managed to brew it correctly, as the rest of the class had a broad range of coloured potions. Ellie Hume had actually managed to make a tar-like substance that Slughorn chose to ignore. When he came to judge Lily's, his face lit up.

'Well, you've got the silvery-white colour,' he boomed, his moustache dancing. 'And the signature silver smoke. Now for the test … aha! Perfect, Lily! Top marks. Five points to Gryffindor for the most outstanding Draught of Peace I have ever seen

in any classroom. Bravo, Lily, bravo!'

Several students rolled their eyes. Peter did an exceptionally accurate impression behind Slughorn's back, sending his friends into fits of laughter and actually causing Remus to snort loudly. Slughorn ignored them and moved over to Dorcas. 'And what do we have here – oh my word! What in the name of Merlin have you done, girl?! This is abysmal at best! Oh dear, oh dear ...'

Slughorn continued to review everyone's potions until the class ended, at which point he beckoned to Lily to approach him. When all the other students had filed out of the class, Slughorn reached into his desk and rummaged around for a second or two, before re-emerging with a small wooden box. He presented this to her with a sort of pomp and pride, as if he was awarding her a Nobel Prize. Lily smiled, bemused, and opened it.

Inside, nestled in green tissue paper, was a fine golden chain, its small pendant in the shape of a fish, with glistening gems for scales, which changed colour when Lily gently took it out of the box. She looked up at Slughorn, wondering why on earth would he give her a necklace.

'I was speaking to Professor McGonagal after the conversation you and I had last week,' he began. 'She mentioned that you were extremely talented at transfiguration, and charms too. She said you were always the first to admire a bit of really well done magic, which I myself have noticed in you too.

I took a trip to Diagon Alley at the weekend, and happened to come across this little beauty in a stall there. The old man selling it kindly told me the fish scales have been bewitched to change in accordance to the holder or wearer's mood. For instance, the scales are currently orange, meaning you are … hang on, there's a booklet here somewhere … ah, yes. Orange means … stressed. Not about potions, I hope! Nothing to stress about, my dear, I have never seen a more talented witch when it comes to potions, and I doubt I ever will! Anyway, I thought the magic used was very clever, and I thought you would find it interesting.'

Lily was momentarily speechless. Surely it was inappropriate for a teacher to present a gift to a student, especially a gift worth as much as this one must have been. 'I couldn't take this, Professor,' she stammered. 'It's beautiful, and you're right – it's very interesting, but I couldn't possibly …'

'You can and you shall!' Slughorn boomed. He laughed heartily for a number of seconds before sobering up before her eyes and suddenly appearing very serious. 'My dear, I must sincerely apologise for the way I responded to your very valid suggestions last week,' he said sincerely. 'Naturally, as Head of House, it is not a pleasant thing to be told you are not doing your job correctly – no, you were absolutely right, my dear, don't apologise. I'm afraid I may have acted a bit rashly. I am so very sorry for not hearing you out that day.

But since then, I have looked into the matter, and you can rest assured that all of that behaviour has been put to a stop, and if I see any kind of rise in it again, there will be severe consequences, no matter the house of the student. I cannot even begin to express my admiration for you, for having the guts and the gall to approach a teacher and actually chastise him!' He threw his head back in laughter as Lily watched, completely bewildered.

'The nerve of you, girl! Very admirable, to stand up for one's beliefs. Never lose that, Lily. It is a wonderfully important quality, to be cherished and held onto.'

Slughorn was looking at Lily with such affection, she was beginning to feel a little uncomfortable. She didn't know what exactly he wanted from her. It was not normal behaviour for a teacher to bestow an expensive necklace on a student and then to begin listing off admirable qualities he saw in her.

'You must think me strange, mustn't you?' Slughorn chuckled, seeming to read her mind. 'I admit, it is rather strange. Better not tell anyone about this fish. Might be seen as favouritism and where would I be then? Speaking of favouritism though, you have undoubtedly heard of my little club?'

 _Merlin's beard,_ Lily thought to herself while Slughorn promoted his club. _Merlin's unkempt, scraggly beard. This is actually happening. What the_ hell _am I supposed to say?!_

'So, we're having a little get-together tonight, as it happens,' Slughorn said. 'Just a small supper, only a few of us there. Come along, why don't you? The people there are all extremely interesting, and I'm sure you'd make friends there that you might not get the chance to meet other wise.'

Lily didn't know what to say. Her body decided for her and she found herself nodding enthusiastically, saying, 'Yes, of course, Professor, I'd love to!'

'Fantastic!' Slughorn clapped his hands together in delight. 'My office at half past seven, then. I look forward to seeing you there.'

Lily smiled and nodded and retreated from the dungeon, the fish glowing a bright blue.

* * *

'And he just gave you a necklace?' Hestia asked for the fourth time in less than five minutes. 'Just gave you a necklace for no reason?'

'Sounds pretty _fishy_ to me,' Dorcas smirked from behind her book. 'Oh, come on, that was funny!' she cried when her friends glared at her.

Lily continued flicking through pages of _Hairy Snout, Human Heart_. 'He told me to go to his office at half seven,' she said. 'For supper with the Slug Club.'

Dorcas gasped and dropped her book, and in the process of picking it up, accidentally elbowed a giant stack of books on the table beside her, sending them cascading to the floor. Madam Pince swooped in like a hawk, began shrieking so loudly and in such a high pitch that no one could understand a word except, "heathens" and "no respect." The three of them were banished from the library, chased out by their bewitched school bags.

'I can't believe he finally asked you!' Hestia beamed excitedly.

Dorcas looked sullenly at the floor as they strolled to the common room, Lily and Hestia chattering incessantly. Dorcas, as everyone was aware, was incredibly ambitious, and would most likely do almost anything to be invited to a Slug Club meeting. That didn't mean that she wasn't pleased with her friend for scoring an invitation, but she had always hoped that she herself would get one too.

The two girls continued babbling with excitement even when they were sat down in the common room, supposed to be studying. The situation worsened once Marlene got back from quidditch practice, soaked to the skin and covered in mud. No one was more excitable than Marlene, who squealed and began jumping up and down (sending mud and water flying onto Dorcas's homework), and didn't stop squealing until almost five minutes later.

'It's twenty to eight,' Dorcas announced flatly, not taking her eyes off of her mud-speckled parchment.

Lily checked her watch, gasped in horror and jumped up. 'Gotta go, already late!' she cried, and ran straight to Slughorn's office, crashing into a group of third years who were unwisely positioned in her way.

She rapped on the door once and it swung open immediately. Slughorn stood before her, dressed in velvet green robes and holding his arms wide. 'Lily, my dear, glad you could make it,' he boomed. 'You, late! We were starting to worry! And you, usually such a punctual girl! Not to worry, not to worry. Take a seat, by all means! There's one beside Regulus there. We were just discussing …'

Lily didn't listen to what they were discussing. She took her seat next to Regulus Black, and looked around the table. _Merlin,_ she thought. She was the only one wearing her robes. Why had she not thought to change her clothes?!

She recognised everyone seated around the large mahogany table; Regulus, to her right, was of course Sirius Black's little brother, but also the seeker for the Slytherin quidditch team. Seated to his right was Esther Eastly, easily the plainest witch Lily had ever met, in every aspect from her looks to her talent. Lily supposed she must be related to someone important. Beside her was Michael Carter, Head Boy. He was remarkably intelligent and it was rumoured that he had mastered Legilimency. Next to him was by far the most beautiful girl Lily had ever seen in her life – Angelica Bloom, a seventh year prefect of Hufflepuff, renowned for being the most intelligent witch in her year, as well as the kindest. Alexander Shrewsbury, beside her, was a very distant descendant of Edgar Stroulger, as he made a habit of reminding people. And to Lily's dismay, seated next to him was Morfin Mulciber. Just the sight of him made Lily's skin crawl.

'… And what is your opinion, Michael?' Slughorn asked. 'As a nephew of a prominent member of the Wizengamot, you must know more about this than any of us could hope to! Do you agree with the new bill?'

'Oh, one hundred per cent,' Carter simpered. 'Werewolves are a dangerous threat to our society. My uncle told me that there is in fact a werewolf who blackmails officials and the like by threatening to bite their children. _Children_ , Professor. What happens when more of them join his line of thinking and rise up, slaughtering innocents? Frankly, I'm surprised this bill is actually up for debate instead of being passed immediately.'

Slughorn nodded, musing over this thought. 'Yes, yes, a very intriguing position. One I'm sure a lot of wizards share. Angelica, thoughts?'

Bloom was looking at Carter with a mixture of confusion and disappointment. 'Completely opposed to it, Professor,' she said determinedly. 'Werewolves can only _rise up_ , as Michael says, if they are being forced down. Oppression will only lead to further tensions. I think the Ministry have to try and appease with werewolves, and arrange a situation in which every one is happy and no one's children are in danger. I agree, of course, that the particular werewolf Michael mentioned is without a doubt evil and deserves to be thrown in Azkaban, but surely we shouldn't let that one represent all werewolves? They could just as well judge us to be evil just because we are of the same species as Gellert Grindelwald. I'm sure there are thousands of peaceful werewolves, living oppressed just because of a select few who give the rest of them a bad image. This bill will only make the situation worse.'

Mulciber scoffed. 'Sounding like a true sympathiser. I bet you're all for the freedom of house-elves, too,' he sneered with disdain.

' _Actually_ ,' Bloom rounded on him. 'I am very much all for it! House-elves are -'

'Let's not get too heated,' Slughorn intervened. 'At this table, we share opinions respectfully, _not_ with the intention to make others feel inferior or belittle them for their beliefs. Now, Lily, our newest addition! Tell us; what are your thoughts on the proposed bill? Pro or anti?'

Lily swallowed the mead she had just taken a gulp of. 'Er … I don't think I know enough about the bill to make an informed decision just yet, Professor,' she lied, not wanting to speak out so early in the meeting.

Slughorn laughed. 'Of course, of course! Clever of you, making sure you don't say the wrong thing in front of the wrong people. But you're among friends here, Lily! Speak away, and do not fear judgement from us!'

Lily looked around the table at the faces staring at her expectantly. 'Well, er … I'm not sure I agree with it,' she began nervously. 'I mean, I can't see how segregation could possibly help the current situation. Just today, actually, I was reading _Hairy Snout, Human Heart_ , and it was absolutely heart-wrenching. The things that writer had to endure, from discrimination to actually having to go into hiding for fear for his life. I agree with Angelica; if we suppress werewolves, they will only rise in anger. We'll have a repeat of the Goblin Rebellions.'

Mulciber scoffed again, and muttered something inaudible. Lily shot him a dirty look before smiling sweetly at Slughorn.

'Interesting,' Slughorn nodded appreciatively. 'And you, Esther? Surely your brother-in-law must know something about it?'

Esther didn't even look up from the pudding in front of her. 'I expect he does,' she said. 'But I haven't spoken to him for years. My sister fell out with my parents when I was eleven, see. Haven't seen her or her husband since.'

Slughorn gave a disappointed hum. 'Pity, pity,' he sighed. Lily got the feeling that Esther Eastly would not receive another invitation. 'Moving on, Regulus, you were telling me earlier about …'

Lily tuned out. Mulciber was sending her looks so ominous that she couldn't help but feel uneasy. _Should have kept your mouth shut_ , she scolded herself. _Should've just said you didn't even know enough to begin to form an opinion. Now he's got another reason to hate you._

The meeting finished up at half past nine, at which time Slughorn looked at a clock and exclaimed in shock. 'My, my, how time flies!' he chuckled. 'You'd all better run along back to your common rooms or we'll all be in trouble! Filch would hang us all from our thumbs in the dungeons!'

Lily gladly stood up and left as soon as she could.

* * *

It was bitterly cold as students took their places in the quidditch stands on Saturday afternoon. Lily had found Benjy, and they sat together, along with Hestia and Dorcas, who sat with Remus, and of course Peter and Black. Wind howled so loudly through the stands that they could barely hear each other speak.

The stands filled up quickly. Unsurprisingly, Slytherin supported Ravenclaw in this match. Hufflepuff seemed divided, and Lily noted that many of their students chose not to carry a flag for either team, but rather for their own.

The teams emerged from the changing rooms and took to the sky. Madam Hooch released the Bludgers and the Snitch. She then gave her usual speech about "a nice, clean game", which of course fell on deaf ears, before releasing the Quaffle.

'Aaaaaand they're off!' cried Aaron Burbage from the podium. 'And Gryffindor take the Quaffle first! It's McKinnon to Potter and back to – oh, no, that's a bad throw from Potter, and now it's Ravenclaw's Wolfe, Merlin's beard, just look at him go! It's Wolfe to Greene and Greene to … no one apparently. And Potter's reached it just before Wolfe could get there! Wow, look at that for a dodge! He shoots – he doesn't score! A spectacular save from Barry Ryan!'

Ravenclaw and Slytherin erupted in applause. Potter looked to be cursing heartily and McGonagal gave him a stern look. Black and Peter were yelling but Lily couldn't quite make out what they were saying over the wind and the cheering.

'McKinnon's got the Quaffle again and she passes it to – oh wow, she throws the Quaffle around Greene and then catches it again! Some player, that girl is, and very pretty too!' - Marlene went the same colour as her robes but continued flying – 'And she scores! Gryffindor ten, Ravenclaw nil!'

The Gryffindor crowd went wild. Lily, Dorcas and Hestia screamed with delight, chanting Marlene's name over and over. Marlene and Potter high-fived in the air.

'Greene with the Quaffle – what's this? Looks like Rutherford's seen the Snitch! She dives, Pearce dives alongside her, and oh! - she pulls away and Pearce goes crashing to the ground! Fantastic Wronski Feint from the Ravenclaw seeker!'

The entire crowd gave a collective wince as Pearce collided with the ground and lay in a heap on the grass below. He clambered back onto his broom and resumed flying, somewhat slower than he had been.

'Greene still has the Quaffle, passes it to Wolfe, passes it to Stark, back to Wolfe, Wolfe drops it! It's picked up by Potter, he narrowly dodges Greene, passes to Daly, Daly passes to McKinnon, McKinnon – _ouch_!'

Hestia screamed. A Bludger hit Marlene so hard that she dropped the Quaffle and almost fell off her broom. She hovered in the air, swaying unsteadily and clutching her left hand, which was now hanging limply and resembled a flesh-coloured glove. Potter immediately flew towards her.

'Do you think it's broken?' Peter asked nervously.

'Oh, it's definitely broken. I'd say she'd be lucky if her hand's not completely shattered,' Black replied, looking horrified.

'That's really comforting, thanks,' Dorcas snapped angrily, peeking through her fingers. Black ignored her and continued watching the game. Meanwhile, Ravenclaw had the Quaffle again and scored with ease as Edgecombe was too busy checking that Marlene was okay instead of actually guarding the goals.

Marlene spotted them in the crowd and gave them a thumbs-up, a weak smile on her face, and continued chasing the Quaffle. 'Wow, McKinnon keeps playing!' Burbage exclaimed. 'The resilience of that girl is something else, she is simply – okay, sorry Professor – it's Daly with the Quaffle now, and he scores! Gryffindor twenty, Ravenclaw ten! Rutherford speeds up – ah, yes, there it is! There's the Snitch!'

Pearce followed Rutherford, but Rutherford quickly halted in the air to avoid a Bludger coming her way. Pearce was not so lucky.

'Wow, it's not a good day for you, is it, Pearce?' Burbage said as Pearce was smacked in the chest. 'Looks like Rutherford's lost the Snitch. Look at that – Daly's got the Quaffle, he zooms right past Wolfe and Greene, passes to McKinnon, she flies … upwards, what are you doing, Marlene? Oh wow! A beautiful Porskoff Ploy from McKinnon to Daly, beautifully executed! Daly passes to Potter! And Potter … misses again. Score stands at twenty to ten.'

Unfortunately, things only went south from there. Ravenclaw scored three times before Marlene was hit by another Bludger and Burbage accused the Ravenclaw beaters of targeting her on purpose. Ravenclaw then scored five times more. Pearce took himself out by crashing into the Hufflepuff stands – he seemed to be concussed from the Wronski Feint earlier – and then Edgecombe let in another seven goals before Rutherford triumphantly caught the Snitch. The final score was three-hundred and ten to twenty.

Lily and the other six went to stand outside the changing rooms, waiting for Marlene and Potter. They stood in the rain for almost ten minutes, waiting impatiently, before Benjy said he should get back to his friends and left.

Potter then emerged from the changing rooms, looking grim, and was given a consolatory clap on the back from each of his friends. 'What happened, mate?' Black asked. 'You're usually the best player I know.'

Potter shrugged pathetically. 'Just an off-day, I guess,' he said before turning to the girls. 'Marlene's been taken to Madam Pomfrey,' he informed them, looking unwaveringly at Hestia. 'Her entire left hand was smashed in and we think she's got a couple of broken ribs too.'

Lily, Hestia and Dorcas all rushed to the Hospital Wing and arrived by Marlene's bedside, completely out of breath. Marlene was sat up on the bed, propped up by some pillows while Madam Pomfrey rushed between her and the groaning Pearce on the bed next to her.

'Oh, relax, you're fine!' she snapped at him. 'McKinnon, that hand solid yet?' Marlene nodded, examining her hand. 'Then you can go,' Madam Pomfrey said. 'And I'd rather you stopped ending up in here after _every_ quidditch match.'

Marlene nodded, hopped off the bed and strode back to the common room, followed by her friends.

* * *

Lily and Benjy made their way through the castle at half past six on Friday, she dressed in yellow and he in red. 'Still can't believe he's throwing a party on Friday the thirteenth,' Benjy joked. 'Things can only go badly.'

They arrived at Slughorn's office and Lily didn't even get to knock on the door before it was flung open. Slughorn stood before them, a goblet of mead in his hand and his round face already pink. 'Lily! So glad you could make it!' he beamed, followed by a small hiccough. 'And who is your friend?'

'Benjy Fenwick, Professor,' Benjy replied, frowning but shaking Slughorn's outstretched hand anyway. 'You've taught me Potions for six years.'

Slughorn simply smiled, clearly having no recollection whatsoever of Benjy, and told them to enjoy themselves before going to talk to someone more important.

Benjy offered to go and get them something to drink, and Lily took the opportunity to admire her surroundings. The normally small office had obviously been magically enlarged in some way, as it was at least three times its usual size. Swathes of pink and red fabric hung on the ceiling, giving the impression that they were in a very large and very flamboyant tent.

About half a dozen cherubs were flying around the room, carrying large trays with goblets of mead, and offering drinks to party-goers. The one Benjy was attempting to approach kept ignoring him and giggling in glee, much to Benjy's frustration. Behind him, a string sextet of what appeared to be animated marble statues were playing a remarkably melancholy tune, considering the holiday.

Benjy gave up on the stubborn cherub and retrieved two goblets from another, returned to Lily's side and handed her one. They clinked glasses and looked around for a bit, Benjy remarking on the room while Lily pointed out people she recognised from the Slug Club or elsewhere.

Angelica Bloom and Michael Carter were laughing heartily in a corner, holding hands and occasionally kissing – much to Lily's surprise. Alexander Shrewsbury stood with a tall, pale man with silver hair, and appeared to be boring him. As she suspected, Esther Eastly was nowhere to be seen. Regulus Black and Morfin Mulciber were standing in a corner with -

Lily's green eyes locked with the pair of dark brown ones across the room. They both froze and stared at each other. 'Lily?' Benjy asked. 'You alright?'

Lily turned around. 'Perfect,' she smiled, and reached up to kiss him. She felt an inexplicable surge of guilt the second their lips met and she couldn't fathom why. Benjy didn't seem to notice. He looked very pleased with himself and took her hand.

Severus remained standing where he was, rooted to the spot for at least a minute before Mulciber gave him a questioning look and he snapped himself out of the shock that seeing Lily had put him in.

Lily had completely forgotten that Severus was a member of the Slug Club. He had been invited at the beginning of fourth year, and was absolutely delighted about it. How could she have forgotten the day he ran up to her in the corridor, beaming from ear to ear – despite the fact that his eyebrows had been jinxed yellow by Potter – and excitedly told her about the invitation? How could she forget that when she had been so happy for him?

She took a large gulp of her mead and decided to try to forget Severus – for tonight at least. He was the one in the wrong, she told herself. He was the one who had accused her of things that were certainly not true, with no basis whatsoever. Sure, she had been wrong for standing him up that fortnight ago, but she had apologised profusely, and all he did was berate her.

 _It's not my fault_ , she told herself. _It's not my fault … but it_ is _my fault ..._

Slughorn was standing by the stage, beckoning to the sextet of statues, clearly trying to get them to either stop playing or to start playing something less depressing. None of his attempts seemed to work, as when they finished the piece they were playing, they immediately launched into an even more mournful one.

Lily finished her mead and was quickly supplied with another by the same cherub that ignored Benjy's existence, much to his annoyance. Lily laughed at his frustrated expression and kissed him again, still trying to distract herself from the fact that she was still feeling guilty.

* * *

Lily and Benjy slipped out of Slughorn's office at eleven o'clock, giggling and flushed from the alcohol, and began to make their way through the corridors. Lily heard a sniffling from around the corner from the office door, and recognised it all too well. She sighed. 'Benjy, I just realised I forgot to ask Slughorn about something,' she lied. 'You go ahead. I'll see you tomorrow.'

They kissed again, Lily feeling that same wave of guilt wash over her, and bid each other goodnight. She watched him round the corner and made quite sure that he was out of sight and out of hearing range before she walked tentatively towards the crying around the corner.

'Sev?' she whispered, unable to see anyone in the dark corridor. 'Sev, is that you?' The weeping stopped abruptly, as if the crier had put a hand over their mouth and was resolutely refusing to make a sound. 'Sev, where are you?'

She retrieved her wand from her pocket. 'Lumos,' she whispered, and a blue light from the tip of her wand illuminated the corridor.

Severus was sat on the floor, leaning up against the wall with his legs folded to his chest. Lily wordlessly joined him on the floor and put her arm around him. He said nothing, and neither did she. They just sat up against the wall for several minutes, Lily waiting patiently as he cried his eyes dry.

'What's up?' she asked quietly once she was quite sure the tears had stopped.

Severus shook his head. Lily sighed acceptingly and they continued to sit in silence for what felt like days. Somewhere in the castle, the clock struck midnight and Severus jumped to his feet. 'Curfew – shit,' he sputtered, looking around in alarm. 'Shit, Slughorn'll kill me!'

'Relax,' Lily soothed, taking his hand and standing up in front of him. 'He knows you were at the party and if he didn't see you slip out, just say you got carried away with all the magnificent company.'

Severus chuckled. 'Yeah, he'd like that, wouldn't he?' he smiled. 'No wonder he likes you so much if you're always saying stuff like that to him.'

Lily smiled. 'Plus, I'm a prefect. You're not getting in any trouble with me around,' she said. 'You sure you don't want to tell me what upset you?'

Severus looked down at the floor and Lily was suddenly and harshly reminded of the scared ten year old boy with the bruised arms and black eyes she had met six years ago. Filled with pity, she reached out and hugged him to her.

She didn't know how long they held each other for.

When they finally parted, still holding onto each other's hands, he was still looking at his feet. 'Sev,' she whispered. 'If something's bothering you, please tell me. Is it Potter and his gang again?'

Severus scoffed. 'I can handle _Potter_ ,' he spat. His anger vanished as quickly as it had arrived as he looked at her. 'I miss you, Lily. I miss being friends with you and studying with you by the lake, and hanging out over the holidays. I'm really sorry about everything I said before. I was just really angry and I … I don't know what to say, I'm truly, truly sorry about everything. Even before that fight, you were right, I was ignoring you. I'm just going through some stuff right now and I don't know how to deal with it – it's all so much and I don't know -'

He trailed off, tears springing to his eyes once more. Lily squeezed his hands and smiled sympathetically.

'Can you forgive me?' he asked quietly.

Lily nodded. 'Of course I can forgive you,' she replied. 'If you can forgive me for all the horrible things I said to you?'

Severus nodded and smiled, and they hugged again. The door of Slughorn's office was heard swinging open, followed by laughter and several voices saying goodbye to their host. Lily and Severus took this as their cue to go back to their separate common rooms, and parted ways.

When she finally stepped through the portrait hole, Lily went straight up to her room. Marlene and Hestia were still awake, the latter reading and the former staring up at the canopy over her bed, trying to sleep. Dorcas was snoring.

Lily got dressed into her flannel pyjamas, brushed her teeth and climbed into bed without a word to her friends. She was just drifting off when she suddenly remembered Severus's gift from two weeks ago, still lying under the hairy green cardigan. She quietly got out of bed and retrieved the small red box before returning to the warmth of her sheets.

She undid the red ribbon tying the narrow, rectangular box together and removed the lid. Inside was an ornate silver bookmark, somewhat resembling solid silver ribbon. At the top was a silver branch, sprouting blossoms that fell away into nothing before growing from buds again.

It reminded her instantly of the first time she met him – how he had seen her making a blossom open and close its petals, and told her what she was. She chuckled, remembering how it had initially offended her.

In her memory, Severus had no bruises, no black eyes. He was shining. He was the bringer of a new life, an adventure. She felt her eyes water and chided herself for being so sentimental. With one last smile, she placed the bookmark on her bedside table before lying back down, and drifting off to sleep.

* * *

 **Thanks if you made it through all that! I know it's a good bit longer than my other chapters (so far at least) but when I split it into two, it felt wrong. The first part with Severus was initially supposed to be in the last chapter but that felt wrong too. I don't know why I'm writing this here.**

 **Thanks so much to the wonderful people who reviewed! All of your feedback was lovely and I really appreciate it :)**

 **Next up: Valentine's Day ... and a lot more of the Marauders!**


	5. Cherubs

**I'm back! And I still don't own HP :(**

* * *

Slughorn's enchanted statues and cherubs had fallen to the Marauders.

On Saturday morning the entrance to the Great Hall was more crowded than usual; the marble sextet had been bewitched so that their cellos, violins and violas had been replaced with a drum kit and some guitars. The statues seemed quite pleased with their new instruments, and even elected a lead singer. They were now performing Carly Simon's _You're So Vain_ to a crowd of first and second years.

Several cherubs fluttered about in the air, throwing handfuls of pink confetti onto the heads of the students below, who didn't seem to mind. In fact, they were so caught up in the performance that Lily wondered if they even noticed. Lily rolled her eyes and pushed through, Hestia Marlene and Dorcas following her.

The Great Hall had been decorated to such an extent that Lily couldn't see the ceiling for all the love hearts hovering above the tables. Long red table runners ran down each table (including the teachers'), and the flames that burned in the torches now burned an alarming shade of pink. Professor Dumbledore, seated happily in the Headmaster's chair, was dressed in flamboyant fuchsia robes, with a matching pointed hat that occasionally emitted tiny red hearts from its tip. Professor McGonagal looked bored and almost embarrassed beside him.

Lily and her friends sat down and helped themselves to the extravagant breakfast that lay before them. It was surprising for the Great Hall to be so full so early on a Saturday morning. Usually people didn't get out of bed until nine or ten on a weekend, and yet here most of the school sat at eight o'clock.

'So anyway, I said yes and he's taking me to the Three Broomsticks,' Marlene continued, for she had been cut off by the band earlier. 'Hopefully if I go out with him this one time, he'll stop talking about me in quidditch matches.'

'I cannot _believe_ you!' Hestia cried. Marlene, Dorcas and Lily all looked at her in alarm. Hestia had been in a fine mood until they sat down and now all of a sudden looked as though she could hex Marlene. 'I can't believe you agreed to a date on today of all days! What's the point in me even going to Hogsmeade if you're out with Burbage, Lily's out with Benjy and Dorcas is out with Remus? You said we were going to waste Valentine's day alone, together! _Together, Marlene!_ I have to wander around Hogsmeade alone now!'

'You can hang out with us, Hestia,' Peter plopped down in the seat beside Dorcas. 'We're a Marauder short for the day seeing as Moon – Remus is with Dorcas. You can be an honorary member.' He grinned kindly, and Lily couldn't help but smile.

Hestia looked rather taken aback. 'I, er – wow, thanks, Peter, er …' she stammered. 'Er – that's really nice. Thank you. Are you sure Potter and Black won't mind though? I don't want to intrude.'

Peter shrugged and reached for the porridge ladle. 'I'm sure they won't,' he said. 'And even if they do, they can hardly make you leave.'

This didn't seem to comfort Hestia at all but at least she wasn't yelling.

There was a deafening chorus of trumpets from the doorway and every head in the Hall turned to look in amazement as Potter and Black strutted in with a small army of trumpet-wielding cherubs behind them. The two boys sat down beside Peter and the cherubs scattered and zoomed around the hall.

Peter immediately defected from conversation with the girls and turned to whisper with his friends. Marlene, attempting to distract from her "betrayal", began asking about Sebastian, Hestia's German pen-pal. Hestia ignored her, choosing to talk to Dorcas about what she was going to do with her hair for her date with Remus.

'Speak of the devil,' Lily said. Remus had just entered the Great Hall, looking green. As he walked, Lily noticed he was carrying himself differently. There was no spring in his step and he had the air of trying to appear apathetic - without succeeding. When he reached them, he walked straight past Potter and Black, choosing instead to sit between Peter and Dorcas.

Something was off, she realised as she watched him turn to Dorcas and begin chattering almost desperately, while Black rolled his eyes and muttered something that looked a lot like, "stupid prick." Peter sat awkwardly between them, looking conflicted and confused about who to talk to. Luckily for him, he didn't have to make a decision as there was another burst of trumpeting and the Hall fell silent.

Lily watched in bemused bewilderment as the cherubs converged again in the air, forming the shape of a giant love heart, before reforming into the shape of a large hand. Three fingers and a thumb disappeared and several first years gasped. Potter, Black and Peter erupted into laughter.

The hand disappeared with a green flash. Professor McGonagal had stood up and was brandishing her wand with a look of pure rage on her face. Her eyes, focusing on the three laughing boys, narrowed.

'You four!' she bellowed, pushing past teachers' chairs and striding down through the Hall. 'I've had it with you four and your … _shenanigans_!'

Peter stopped laughing. Potter and Black did not.

Professor McGonagal arrived by the table and stared at them so sternly that it bordered on terrifying. 'Up! Now, the lot of you!' she snapped. 'My office, _now_!'

Potter, Black and Peter all stood up, two of the three looking quite proud of themselves. Remus protested, but McGonagal was having none of it. He was forced to go with her, protesting his innocence all the way. The Great Hall resumed its usual buzz and friends all turned to discuss what had just happened.

'Bet they're not getting to Hogsmeade now,' Dorcas said sadly. 'Means I'm with you, then Hestia.' Hestia beamed and immediately launched into making an itinerary for their day, while Marlene looked guilty and like she'd much rather go with them than out with Burbage.

* * *

With breakfast finished, Lily separated from her friends for a few minutes to go find Benjy in order to arrange a meeting place. He was sitting alone, swilling a goblet of pumpkin juice and looking faraway. Lily sat beside him for a few seconds before he even noticed.

'Oh, hey, Lily,' he rushed. 'Sorry, I didn't see you.' She nodded and smiled at him, all of a sudden forgetting her words and her purpose for being there. 'Happy Valentine's day,' he added after a few seconds of silence.

'You too,' Lily replied, doing her best to smile. 'Are you okay?'

Benjy looked startled and turned to look at her properly for the first time since she sat down. He looked tired. 'Huh? Oh, yeah, fine,' he nodded unconvincingly. 'Just thinking. How are you? You talked to Slughorn last night, yeah?'

Lily was confused for a moment before remembering that's what she told him so she could talk to Severus. She hoped he didn't notice this and made a point of nodding and ending up possibly over-doing it. 'Yeah, yeah, that was fine,' she said quickly. Benjy gave a small bemused smile. 'Anyway, where do you want to meet later?' she asked. 'I was thinking somewhere in the castle so we can get the train together, but if you want to meet up there instead -'

'No, castle's fine,' Benjy said. 'Here at ten to?'

Lily paused. 'Um … yeah, sure,' she replied. 'I, uh … I've got to go help Dorcas with her hair, so I'll see you then.' She stood up and waited for him to acknowledge her exit. He didn't look up from his pumpkin juice. Unable to help feeling of being shunned, Lily turned slowly and exited the hall. The statues were now singing _Play with Fire_ , and had an even larger audience than earlier.

She caught a glimpse of Severus on one of the staircases. He wore an almost identical expression to Benjy, complete with the down-turned corners of his lips and the glazed-over eyes. She considered waving or greeting him, and would have done if Avery hadn't been stood with him.

In her preoccupation with debating whether to greet her friend or not, she hadn't noticed Dorcas push her way through a gaggle of fourth years and grab hold of Lily's arm. Lily turned, and leaned forward in an effort to hear better what the other girl was attempting to yell. They shoved their way through the crowd – Lily apologising all the way – before finally being able to breathe again in a corridor.

'I've just spoken to Remus,' Dorcas beamed. 'He said he explained to Professor McGonagal how he had no part in that … well, the whole middle finger incident. She's allowed him to go to Hogsmeade!'

'That's great, Dorcas,' Lily smiled. 'Except Hestia's going to kill you. She's going to have to spend Valentine's day with Peter and Potter and Black.'

Dorcas shook her head. 'They've been given detentions,' she explained as they made their way to the common room. 'And they're banned from going to Hogsmeade until Easter. So Hes won't have to hang 'round with them after all.'

Lily wondered how Dorcas could see this as any sort of positive. 'So … she'll be by herself?' she asked. 'And that's better than hanging out with the Marauders? Say what you will about them, they at least know how to have fun.'

Dorcas paused for a second, seeming to consider this. She shrugged and continued walking, not saying another word until they were sat down on their beds, having copious amounts of make-up applied to their faces.

Hestia wasn't angry in the slightest. She wasn't even surprised when Dorcas explained the situation – she just sighed continued trying to drag a comb through Dorcas's hair. Marlene was still trying to apologise, promising that she'd leave her date with Burbage early to meet her in the Three Broomsticks, to which Hestia just shrugged. Lily did the same, having gotten the feeling that her date with Benjy would neither be eventful nor in the least bit fun. Dorcas kept quiet.

At ten to twelve, Lily said goodbye to her friends and left the dorm to go and meet Benjy. The band had stopped playing and seemed to have disappeared altogether. Benjy was stood alone where the drummer had been stationed. He alternated between looking at his shoes and his watch. When Lily arrived by his side, he was clearly a little impatient that she was five minutes late, but at least he did his best to smile and pretend he'd only been waiting a few seconds.

They joined the queue of eager third years and began remarking on the cold and the slight drizzle.

It was odd; Lily found herself with nothing to say. Lily Evans, as Hestia made a point of telling _everyone_ , always had something to say. Usually she could strike up a conversation with a stranger with complete ease, but stood next to her boyfriend, she was speechless. It wasn't a comfortable silence, and she knew he must have felt the unease as prominently as she did.

Eventually, the queue began to move as Filch checked permission slips and waved people forward, an expression of extreme annoyance on his face. He smelled so strongly of cologne that he might have actually bathed in it, Lily noticed when she presented him with her permission slip, and had on a bow-tie.

Once outside in the open air and out of hearing distance, both Lily and Benjy started laughing almost uncontrollably. 'Did he have pomade in his hair?' Benjy asked between pants of breath. 'As if it wasn't greasy enough already?'

Lily giggled. 'We shouldn't laugh,' she said, trying to keep a straight face. 'Maybe he's getting ready for a date. Maybe it's Madam Pince – you know, I've always thought there might be something between them -'

'That's one of the scariest and most disgusting things I've ever heard,' Benjy shuddered. The rest of the conversation came naturally – speculation about which teachers were having it off with each other was a regular topic for Hogwarts students. Lily was glad of having actually listened to many of Hestia's theories, for now she had something to talk to Benjy about.

Unable to stop thinking, however, that she should have better things to talk to her boyfriend about than whether or not certain teachers were romantically linked, Lily's feeling of unease quickly returned. She did not let it show, would not let it show, and continued chattering as if they were just a normal couple.

Weren't they a normal couple? Lily had never been in an actual relationship before – not that this was anything remarkably romantic. She realised, once they reached Hogsmeade, that she felt entirely differently about him today.

When they had first kissed, it had been great. There had been copious amounts of Firewhisky, however, and Lily wasn't all too sure whether liking someone while drunk counted as much as liking someone while sober.

She had thought, once the initial thrill of actually having a boyfriend wore off, that maybe they were just supposed to be friends. But then Hestia told her that "one is supposed to be friends with one's boyfriend – it's the basis of trust which is the basis of a good relationship," and she didn't really give it any more thought.

Then was Slughorn's party. There was mead – though not a lot – and there was kissing. But last night's kissing was very different from the kissing in first few days in corners of the common room or empty classrooms. It felt weird, and even thinking about it brought on that inexplicable guilt she had felt.

So when he took her hand as they walked through the town, she couldn't help but wish that he wouldn't. In an effort to distract from this, she pointed towards a tea shop and hurriedly suggested they get a drink. He looked surprised (Lily couldn't fathom why – since when did liking hot chocolate come as a surprise?) but agreed, and they stepped inside.

* * *

Lily immediately knew why. In her haste to find something that would make Benjy drop her hand without being out-right rude about it, Lily had failed to properly register that the cafe she was dragging him into was none other than the sickeningly romantic Madam Puddifoot's Tea Rooms.

The small cafe was decorated even more extravagantly than usual. Both times she had been here before it had been gaudy enough. But Madam Puddifoot had taken it up a notch for the holiday and it was now like a mini-replica of the Great Hall this morning. The walls (which Lily seemed to remember were cream) were wallpapered in pink and red paper hearts. As she looked up to study the room further, she realised that the same had been done to the ceiling. Rose petals fell from the ceiling like snow and candles burned in every corner of the room.

Taking a reluctant seat at a table dressed in a frilly lace tablecloth, Lily reached for something, anything, if it meant she didn't have to hold Benjy's hand. She found herself staring intently at a perfectly boring menu, as if the listed items were foreign to her. Madam Puddifoot herself bustled over, her black hair scraped back into an excruciatingly tight-looking bun. 'What can I get you two lovebirds?' she crooned, looking between the very uncomfortable couple as if they were an adorable puppy.

Again looking bemused, Benjy looked to Lily, allowing her to order first. Still flustered (now even more so thanks to being referred to as a "lovebird"), Lily cleared her throat and asked for a hot chocolate. 'Make that two,' Benjy said. 'And do you have any scones?'

Madam Puddifoot announced rather proudly that she did indeed serve scones, and began listing off types for Benjy to choose from. Lily had not known there were so many variations of scones, and concluded that Madam Puddifoot must have created new recipes herself – pumpkin and lavender sounded revolting. Benjy went for a regular current scone, and Madam Puddifoot bustled away.

'That's a lot of scones,' Lily said dumbly.

Benjy nodded. 'Yeah, a lot of scones,' he agreed, looking absent-mindedly out the window. 'Do you think she makes them all herself?' Lily shrugged in response.

And that was the end of that riveting conversation.

In the silence, Lily was forced to choose between eavesdropping on neighbouring tables (not that there was much to eavesdrop on as every one seemed to be either snogging or gazing dramatically into one another's eyes), or to listen instead to the music Madam Puddifoot had selected. She chose the latter, and regretted it almost immediately.

Now wishing to hear anything but some woman crooning about her " _witch's brew_ ", Lily looked around the tea room to study the clientele. Among the many couples crammed into the tiny room were Vesta Jones and Alan Fielding, Angelica Bloom and Michael Carter, and Alice Fortescue and Frank Longbottom. All were snogging, holding hands, or both.

Madam Puddifoot served the hot chocolates and the scone with such pomp that it actually alarmed Benjy as his attention was snapped away from whatever was so fascinating outside.

Glad of having something to occupy their hands instead of awkwardly twiddling their thumbs or fumbling with their clothes, the couple grasped hold of their respective cups and either concentrated on stirring its contents (Benjy) or examining the floral pattern on the saucer (Lily).

Lily had never been so thankful for a hot chocolate in her life. Not only were awkward silences more acceptable now that they had drinks to slurp from, but they both seemed to be of the opinion that this was the most delicious hot chocolate in the entire world – wizarding or otherwise.

They each drank three cups of the supreme hot chocolate, chatting briefly between cups, and decided to head back out into the village at quarter past three.

Mercifully, Benjy didn't take her hand as they strolled, peering through the windows of Zonko's as they passed. Instead, he brought her in to Tomes and Scrolls, needing a new copy of _Advanced Potion Making_ seeing as his had combusted during the week, and Lily spent the next ten minutes craning her neck in order to read the spines of books while waiting for him to pay so they could leave.

Once outside, Benjy laughed. 'What is it?' Lily asked, wondering nervously if she hadn't heard some joke he'd made.

Benjy shook his head, still grinning. 'It's nothing, really. I've just realised that this has been the least romantic Valentine's Day ever,' he chuckled. 'If not the least romantic date ever.'

'Well, don't hold back on my account.'

'No, it's not like that,' he said, still smiling. 'It's just … I dunno … do you feel different about this? About us?'

Lily paused, before shrugging and nodding. 'I just feel like we'd be better as friends,' she said softly. 'I'm sorry, I mean, I genuinely really liked you, and you're really nice and all, but … this is awkward.'

'Yeah, I think so too,' he replied. 'I think you're great, but I definitely think we're better as friends.'

They nodded and smiled at each other, standing in the snow on the main street of Hogsmeade, before deciding to go and meet Marlene and Hestia in the Three Broomsticks.

* * *

The inn was, as usual, packed. Lily was glad to see that Hestia had saved them a large enough table and so she and Benjy pushed through the crowds to reach her.

Although Marlene had yet to arrive, Hestia was not alone.

Sat across from her were Peter, Black, and Potter.

Surprised, Lily sat down beside her friend and gave the three boys a friendly smile. 'Dorcas said you guys had detention?' she asked.

Black smiled grimly. 'We did, no thanks to Dorcas's _boyfriend_ ,' he replied, his voice bitter.

'Mind telling us how you escaped McGonagal's clutches then?' Benjy grinned.

Potter scoffed. 'What, with two prefects in front of us? I'm not mental, Fenwick. Let's just say we have our secrets.'

'Although a firewhisky or two might loosen our tongues,' Black smirked. 'You're seventeen, right Fenwick?'

Benjy laughed and rolled his eyes. 'Not a chance,' he replied before turning to Lily. 'Listen, if we're not … if this isn't a date any more,' he said quietly. 'Would you mind if I went and found my friends?'

Lily waved him away with a smile and he promised to hang out another time. Hestia's eyebrows seemed to be trying to join her hairline.

'You guys broke up?' she asked. 'When? Why?'

Lily shrugged. 'We both think we're better as friends,' she replied.

'Marlene'll be devastated,' Hestia said. 'She was weirdly invested in you two. Hey, maybe she wasn't invested in _you_ , maybe she was invested in -'

'No way!' Lily laughed loudly. 'No, I'm almost certain Marlene likes -' she cut herself off before she said it out loud, but that didn't stop her eyes from flicking towards Black, who luckily didn't notice. Hestia's eyebrows were now indistinguishable from her hair.

Potter, grinning from ear to ear, stood up. 'Butterbeers on me,' he smiled broadly. 'Pads, come with.' He dragged Black from his seat and up towards the bar.

Hestia giggled. 'Merlin, I hope neither of them saw that,' she said. 'Marlene would probably kill us.'

Lily nodded in grave agreement, while Peter sat looking between the two girls as if trying to figure out what he'd missed.

There was a blast of icy wind and Dorcas and Remus found their way over to their table. Peter and Remus looked at each other – Remus looking surprised and confused, while Peter seemed to be sending him warning looks while nodding back towards the bar. Remus ignored these looks and sat down beside his girlfriend. Peter looked even more nervous than usual.

Dorcas, oblivious, launched into conversation with Lily and Hestia about possibly every single thing that had happened on her date with Remus, who Lily noted was still looking rather ill.

'Ah, look, Prongs,' Black said coldly as he set the butterbeers down so forcefully that quite a bit spilled onto the table. 'Judas has decided to join us.'

Potter's grin faded. 'Remus, I thought we made ourselves pretty clear about you right now,' he said quietly. 'You should've gone to the Hog's Head or something.'

Remus looked affronted. 'What, so I'm not allowed to accompany my girlfriend when she wants to meet her friends in here?' he demanded, not even trying to keep his voice down. 'You'd rather I stood outside in the freezing cold and the snow because you're acting like children?'

'That actually sounds great, why don't you go do that?'

'Sirius, please,' Peter sighed. 'Not now, not in front of everyone.'

'Shut the fuck up, Peter!' Black roared suddenly. The inn went quiet in a split second and everyone turned to look – some even craning their necks to see over the shoulders of others. Potter nudged him, muttering something Lily couldn't quite make out. 'No, James, I'll yell if I fucking want to!' Black snapped. 'This little bitch threw us under the bus just to go on a date with his _girlfriend_ , as if he's not already with her _all the fucking_ _time_!'

Hestia made a noise that could only be described as a hiss.

'Don't bring her into this!' Remus shouted. 'This isn't about her! It's about you being so desperate to cling to your few friends that you won't let them have lives outside of you! You're pathetic!'

Potter and Peter sighed in an almost identical way. Black looked as though he'd been slapped in the face. His cheeks reddened and he blinked a few times before menacingly saying, 'If you think the three of us are going with you tomorrow, you've got another thing coming.'

Now Remus looked shocked, but not as surprised as Potter. 'Sirius,' he muttered. 'Sirius, we can't _not_ go with him. He needs us.'

Despite Potter's pleas and Peter's continuous head-shaking, neither boy was backing down. No-one said anything for quite a while, and the inn regained its usual buzz. Remus and Black seemed to be trying to kill each other with glares and Lily suspected that the only thing keeping Black from hexing Remus was Potter's hand gripping his arm, keeping his wand safely in his pocket.

'Fine,' Remus hissed, standing up abruptly. 'I don't need you guys tomorrow night anyway. I swear, Sirius, if you even so much as look at me …' he trailed off angrily, still glaring straight at the other boy. 'Don't fucking talk to me, don't talk to Dorcas, and if you do, so help me, I will curse you into oblivion.'

With that, he turned and stormed out of the inn, Dorcas rushing after him without so much as a word of apology to her friends. Black scoffed. 'Like to see him try,' he muttered as Potter patted his back and tried to sit him back down.

Lily and Hestia said nothing, despite the fact that Lily knew that, like herself, Hestia was itching to know what they were supposed to be doing tomorrow night. Peter was the first to speak, awkwardly laughing about the cherub incident earlier. Potter and Black didn't seem to hear him, and instead whispered between themselves, so Peter settled for chatting nervously with Hestia and Lily.

There was another gust of cold air and Marlene and Aaron Burbage (both smiling unnaturally widely) joined them. 'Sorry we're late; got a bit … carried away,' Marlene giggled as Aaron went to get them some drinks. 'What'd I miss?'

* * *

 **Thanks for getting this far. I just wanted to sincerely thank the people who stuck around during my little break. I've said it before - your support means a lot to me.**

 **So without going into too much detail, I was sick, then had a bit of a mental breakdown which had the excellent timing of coinciding with my future-defining exams. No biggie.**

 **I'm really sorry about not updating in what I think (could be wrong) is almost two months. But we're back on track (hopefully) and should be back to regular updates now.**

 **Thanks for reading.**

 **Reviews would mean the world to me, even if it's just a word or two.**


	6. Moony

**I don't own anything, please don't rub it in.**

* * *

Remus Lupin had not spoken to neither Black nor Potter in two weeks. Sure, he had yelled at Black several times, but that wasn't quite the same. Lily had spied him muttering to Peter a few times during Transfiguration on Thursday, but not since then. In what must have been a herculean feat, he had avoided his room-mates for a fortnight now and showed no sign of crumbling.

This meant that most of Lily's spare time was either spent with her friends and Remus (and sometimes Benjy – true to his word, he had actually spent quite a bit of time with her since their amicable split), or – as she was currently doing – whispering in the library with Peter.

Peter, naturally, wanted his friends back together. Lily wanted her friend to be happy, and for him to hopefully stop turning Dorcas into a lovey-dovey pile of mush whenever near him. So since that Saturday in Hogsmeade, the two of them met up quite frequently to try and force the trio back to their old ways of practical jokes and immature humour.

They had, initially, tried to be subtle about it. A small Professor McGonagal caricature here (which unfortunately landed Peter a week of detentions), a poorly-executed dung bomb there (it didn't actually go off before Professor Sprout found it and immediately blamed the Marauders, so that one actually worsened matters), but nothing evoked even a smirk from the trio.

So by the end of February, Lily and Peter's desperation was growing rapidly.

Peter tried reminiscing: _"Hey, do you guys remember that time Remus was drunk and accidentally tried to go up to the girls' dorm?"_. This was quickly shut down by Potter - _"Almost like it was only a month ago, Peter."_ \- and they decided they'd have to be even more overt about it now. Subtlety was thrown to the wind and now they were trying to figure out a way to get the three of them in a room together and forcing them to see how stupid they were being.

They had resorted to Lily loudly complaining at breakfast yesterday morning about how boring it was in Hogwarts of late, and how she wished someone would " _Oh, I don't know, play a little joke or something."_ None of the three even looked up.

Unfortunately, Lily must have spoken just a tad too loudly, as now other students were trying their hand at the art of practical jokes – none successfully. Alan Fielding had attempted to set off a series of firecrackers at dinner, but had only resulted in singeing his eyebrows off.

Now, with the stench of a partially set-off dung bomb hanging in the air, Lily and Peter needed Black and Remus to make up as soon as possible. Peter was sure that Potter wouldn't need any persuading, just as long as his friends were happy. He was even tempted to ask Potter to join them in their conspiracy, but suspected Lily wouldn't be a big fan of that idea and so kept it to himself.

But Black was stubborn and everyone knew it. In their second year, he hadn't spoken to Peter for almost three days just over a game of Gobstones Black insisted was rigged in some way. And Remus … well, Remus wasn't quite as stubborn but he wasn't exactly the type to apologise first either.

Lily was still finding it hard to wrap her head around the reason behind their fall-out. Sure, Remus was spending quite a bit of time with Dorcas, but it was a new relationship and that was kind of the norm, was it not? And the whole cherubs incident hadn't helped matters, especially when Remus _"threw his friends under the bus"_ , but they had appeared to be quarrelling even before that.

Peter refused to tell her any more than that. This surprised Lily immensely, seeing as Peter was a renowned push-over. But it didn't matter how many times she sweetly asked him ( _"How am I supposed to help if I don't fully understand the situation?"_ ); Peter simply would not budge.

Madam Pince began herding students out of the library at half past eight, and Lily and Peter thought it impractical to continue their plotting in the common room where the would undoubtedly be overheard. So they strolled back up to the portrait hole together, discussing the ridiculous fifteen inch essay Flitwick had set them for over the weekend. Once inside, they bid one another a good evening, and joined their separate groups of friends.

Black and Potter were occupying a table by a window, playing a rather aggressive game of Wizard's Chess from which they didn't even glance up when Peter sat down to watch them.

Lily sat down in an armchair across from Hestia. On the couch beside her was Marlene, who looked very uncomfortable with Dorcas sitting to her left. Remus was sat cross-legged on the floor, leaning up against the couch while Dorcas absent-mindedly fan her fingers through his hair. Black kept sending reproachful looks their way, but at least no one was yelling tonight. Not yet, at least.

Remus had been very quiet since Valentine's Day. While he did, admittedly, spend most of his time with Dorcas, he didn't spend much of his time actually speaking to her. They either studied together, or hung out with her friends together while he stared off into space. Dorcas didn't seem to mind. She actually didn't really seem to notice. Currently, he was sketching a what looked like a dog.

Unable to focus on whatever trivial conversation Marlene, Dorcas and Hestia were engaged in, Lily went up to her room and began a letter to her parents.

* * *

Lily woke up surprisingly early on Sunday morning. Hestia, who was usually washed, dressed and had half of her homework done before anyone else had even opened an eye, was just now making her way to the bathrooms. Marlene, who was usually at quidditch practice before Lily woke up, was still turning in her sleep. Dorcas was, as usual, snoring loudly.

Deciding she wouldn't be able to get back to sleep, Lily got out of bed, got dressed, grabbed her notebook and went down to the Great Hall. Only about ten people were there, and only two of them Gryffindors – Lily Evans and James Potter.

'Morning, Evans,' Potter smiled at her. 'What are you doing up so early?'

Lily shrugged. 'Couldn't get back to sleep,' she replied, her voice still thick with sleep. 'Are you going to quidditch practice or something?'

Potter laughed loudly (too loudly for Lily so early in the morning) and motioned at the quidditch kit he wore, with a broomstick on the seat beside him. 'What on earth would give you that idea, Evans?'

Lily smirked. 'Shut up, I'm tired and I haven't had any coffee yet,' she shook her head, reaching for a mug to get some coffee. They sat in silence for several seconds before Lily practically recoiled at the sight of his wrist. 'James, what happened?' she gasped, staring at a jagged scar that ran all the way up his forearm.

Potter smiled, and Lily couldn't fathom why. That scar looked painful and she sincerely doubted it brought up fond memories for him.

'It's nothing, Lily,' he said, shrugging his sleeve back to cover his wrist. 'Fell in broken glass over Christmas.'

'Bullshit.'

'Excuse you?'

'I said bullshit,' Lily was still staring at his wrist, even now when the scar was covered up. 'That looks recent, and I swear you didn't have that last time we talked.'

'Spend a lot of time studying my body, do you, Lily?' Potter smirked.

Lily blinked, and she could feel a colour rising up her neck. 'Shut up, Potter. How did that happen?'

Potter just stared back at her. 'Like I said, broken glass,' he responded calmly. 'Why do you care anyway? You're not exactly my biggest fan.'

Lily didn't answer. 'You should go to Madam Pomfrey or something, just to get rid of it,' she said. 'You don't have to tell her how it happened.'

Potter scoffed. 'Not a chance, Lily. Girls love a bad boy, and now I have battle scars.'

' _"I fell in broken glass,"_ 'Lily mimicked.

'Shut up, it's badass.'

Lily laughed. 'Hey, can I ask you something?'

Potter looked surprised but nodded anyway. 'Ask away, Lily.'

Lily's eyes narrowed, but she smiled nonetheless. 'What's the deal with you guys and Remus?' she asked. 'It's been a full fortnight now and you're still not talking to him. You don't think that's a bit extreme?'

Potter's smile faded and he looked from her to his breakfast. 'Well, it's more like he's not talking to us, actually,' he said. 'Believe me, Lily, we've tried. Well, Peter and I have, anyway. Sirius is just a bit stubborn.'

Lily scoffed. 'A bit?' she raised an eyebrow. 'Listen, you know I like Remus. He's my friend and I think he's wonderful. He's lonely without you guys. Just talk to him, please. He's starting to get on my nerves.'

Potter laughed. 'Aha! So this isn't out of concern for Moony after all! This is your own selfish agenda!' he cried, grinning. 'Shame on you, Lily. I thought better of you. For shame!'

Lily rolled her eyes. 'Why do you call him " _Moony"_ , by the way?' she asked. 'And "Wormtail"? Fucking _Wormtail_? Your nicknames are mental.'

Potter shrugged. 'It's kind of a long story,' he replied quickly. 'An inside joke, you had to be there.'

'And "Padfoot" and "Prongs"?'

'Like I said; you had to be there.'

'Mmhmm?'

'Mmhmm.'

Lily smiled despite herself and shook her head. 'You're so full of shit, you know that?' she sighed, downing the rest of her coffee before standing up from the table. 'All four of you, absolutely full of it.'

Potter winked. 'You love it, though.'

'Piss off, Potter.'

'Watch your fucking language, Evans.'

Lily rolled her eyes at him again, grabbed a slice of toast and left the Great Hall for the library.

* * *

The library was, unsurprisingly, empty. Lily once again made her way over towards the usual shelf and removed the book she must have read cover to cover at least five times in the past few months.

She retreated to her favourite study table, nestled between two shelves with a view of the lake. Poring over the notes she'd already made over the past few weeks, double-checking and cross-referencing with the notes she'd quickly jotted down during Astronomy.

It could be argued that she was perhaps a little too invested in this little project of hers – and she could even turn out to be wrong yet.

But ever since she first suspected it all those months ago, everything was making more and more sense. All the little things added up until she was almost certain she knew what was going on, and questioning why it took her so long to figure it out.

She must have spent hours leaning over the books in front of her, because when she actually looked up the library was remarkably busy – filled with fifth and sixth years trying to study. Her stomach growled audibly and the two sixth years at the table across from her turned to smirk. She flushed and decided she had probably go and eat something, what with it being noon now.

Returning the book to its rightful place (she'd put it on the wrong shelf once and had been slightly terrified of Madam Pince since then), Lily gathered her notes to her chest and made for the door.

She spotted Severus, leaning over a large black leather-bound book and mumbling the words to himself. He looked stressed. So stressed, in fact, that Lily felt the need to go and talk to him (or whisper to him; Madam Pince was looming nearby) to cheer him up.

So forgoing her lunch for a little while longer, Lily quietly strolled over towards his table, the surface of which wasn't visible for all the books he had on it, and paused.

Severus didn't notice; he was too busy scribbling down notes on a piece of parchment that Lily had assumed was homework. But looking over his shoulder, Lily couldn't imagine a teacher would set homework so disorganised.

The parchment looked tatty enough for Lily to know that Severus had been compiling his little list for weeks, at least. There was barely any space left on it, and he kept adding words to the margins, fitting two separate topics on the one line, and drawing arrows connecting points to one another.

Squinting to read (Lily had always teased Severus about his atrocious handwriting), Lily peered even closer to Severus, trying not to draw attention to herself. She felt like she was intruding, and maybe she was, but she also felt like she should be nowhere near what Severus was scribbling, reading with so much focus that his lips moved with the words.

Lily gulped. There, on the top of the page of the book her friend was looking at like it was the Bible, were the words _Magick Moste Evile_. Eyes wide, Lily gazed in shock at Severus, who still hadn't noticed her presence.

 _Maybe he's just doing research_ , Lily tried to tell herself. _Maybe he's just learning the sort of stuff that's out there, being used in the war, so he'll know how to defend himself from it_. Even while thinking it, Lily knew it was a lie.

Severus's parchment was full of notes, none of which seemed like they'd be useful for self-defence. If anything, he looked like he was trying to improve the spells, curses and jinxes the book was detailing.

 _Mulciber_ , Lily thought to herself, her skin crawling. _Mulciber and Avery and Wilkes and all of those supremacist Slytherin pigs. This is their fault_ , Lily fumed. But Severus had always been a little dark. Lily had thought it was because of his family – his alcoholic father who used to beat him and his mother. His mother, who used to go out and not return for days on end, leaving Severus, a _child_ , at the mercy of his father – even angrier now that his wife had managed to get away.

But this … this was different. Others had terrible childhoods; orphaned, abused, neglected. And yet they didn't turn to … this.

Filled with a strange mix of hopelessness and rage, Lily wordlessly left the library and began walking – anywhere but here, really – her appetite gone and replaced by a writhing in the pit of her stomach.

* * *

Lily wasn't sure how long she'd been sitting where she was – leaning up against a tree trunk on the edge of the forest. It was mercifully dry, but she still wished she had a coat with her. She felt wounded, winded like someone had punched her in the stomach and she couldn't get her breath back.

Quidditch practice was still going. Lily could see Marlene zooming around in the air, her blonde hair flying out behind her and Lily knew that later Dorcas would spend close to an hour (as she usually did after practice) trying to comb the knots out of Marlene's hair. She kept reminding the other girl to wear a hair tie or something, but Marlene always conveniently forgot. Lily thought it was cute.

There were cheers of encouragement wafting from the stands and Lily wondered how many actually turned up just to watch Potter racing Emilia Rutherford for the snitch – completely ignoring Barry Ryan's yelling for him to play in his actual position. Of course, Potter argued that he didn't need practice seeing as he already played perfectly – and to be fair to him, he was playing a lot better since Gryffindor's last match. Still, he was rather full of himself about it.

But there was more yelling than usual, but it sounded hostile and seemed to be getting closer. Lily watched as Remus stormed out of the stands, followed by Black. Neither of them noticed Lily and she didn't make her presence known – not wanting to be in the middle of one of their fights.

'Literally all you have to do is apologise, Remus, I won't even be mad any more!' Black shouted. 'Is that actually so hard for you?!'

Remus stopped walking and rounded on him. 'Why on earth should I apologise to _you_?! You're the one who left me to deal with it myself! You and your constant whining and your constant staring – and glaring at Dorcas! It's hardly her fault!' he cried. 'Just leave me alone.'

'Remus, we literally sleep in the same room.'

'And that's it,' Remus snapped, stepping forward menacingly. Black didn't even flinch. 'Nothing else. We're not friends, we're not _anything_.'

They still hadn't noticed Lily sitting about ten feet away, able to clearly hear every word they were saying. She felt kind of bad eavesdropping, but for all she knew, this was the first time they'd spoken in two weeks and she didn't want to be the one responsible for making them stop talking.

If they had noticed, they probably would have kept their voices down, wouldn't have stood so close together.

'Listen, I'm sorry, okay?' Black said softly. 'I'm sorry I didn't go that night, I'm sorry I tried to get James and Peter to stay behind -'

'They could have died, Sirius. I could have _killed_ them. Did you see James's arm? And Peter's back? Your apology isn't enough.'

'Well maybe you should tell your _girlfriend_ then!' Sirius barked. 'Maybe she'll do everything that we do for you! Or maybe – _maybe_ – she'll dump you and you'll come running back to me – to us – with your tail between your legs!'

There was an awful crunching sound as Remus's fist met Black's face. They spent several seconds glaring at each other, Black rubbing his jaw while blood trickled from his nose, before he shook his head and walked back towards the castle.

Remus put a hand to his forehead, pinching the bridge of his nose and visibly sighing. Lily watched him for a few moments as he stood, kicking his feet and staring up at the sky. She felt bad, felt like she had seen something she wasn't supposed to, and quickly took out her notebook so that if he looked over, it would seem that she hadn't been paying any attention.

He did look over. Lily could still see him, though she was trying very hard to focus on the sketch she started in her haste to look busy. He sighed, realising she must have seen, must have heard at least something.

'How much of that did you get?' he asked quietly as he crossed over to her and sat on the grass beside her.

Lily shrugged, still sketching. 'Not much,' she said. 'Just something about you guys not being friends.'

Remus chuckled. 'You're a terrible liar, Lily, you know that?' he smiled sadly. 'You heard it all, didn't you?'

Lily nodded, looking up at him for a split second before going back to her drawing. 'You could have killed Peter and James?'

Remus flinched. 'Not literally, of -'

'During the full moon?'

'- course … what?' he stared at her, his eyes wide with fear.

'You're a werewolf, right?' Lily asked, trying to be casual about it. She wanted him to know that she didn't care.

Remus was still staring at her in horror. 'How … how long have you known?'

'A while.'

'Do you hate me?'

Lily cocked her head in confusion. 'Why would I hate you?'

Remus frowned. 'Because I'm a monster, Lily,' he said matter-of-factly. 'Everyone else hates me once they find out.'

Lily scoffed. 'Remus, no one on earth could hate you if they tried,' she said. 'You're not a monster. You didn't choose to be bitten. You go out of your way not to hurt people. You're the furthest thing from a monster.'

Remus was still frowning. 'Lily … you don't know,' he said softly. 'You don't know what I've done, who I've hurt. James and Peter will have scars for the rest of their lives. Werewolf scratches don't go away.'

'Potter said his scar makes him look – and I quote – "badass".'

Remus laughed. 'Yeah, sounds like him,' he chuckled.

They sat together for quite a while, not saying anything, just watching the quidditch practice. 'Remus, you know I don't care what you turn into once a month, right? You're still you. You're my friend.'

'Are you sure?'

'I'm pretty fucking sure, Remus.'

'Please don't tell anyone?'

'I'm not a fucking idiot,' Lily scoffed.

'You know, you swear _a lot_ ,' Remus smiled. 'You're a prefect, Miss Evans.'

Lily shrugged. 'Do you want to get lunch with me?'

Remus nodded, still grinning, and they walked back to the castle together.

* * *

Lily wasn't really all that surprised that, three days later, Remus and Black still weren't talking. They were now using Peter as an owl, making him deliver insults to one another despite his pleas. Potter had had just about enough and had joined the Lily-Peter conspiracy, helping them plot.

( _"Hey, Lily, Lily, get this,"_ he had caught her between classes on Tuesday, a grin plastered on his face. _"I'm James_ Plotter _. Get it?"_ He looked genuinely proud of himself, and that, Lily thought, was the most pathetic part.)

Potter reported that it was getting worse – they had almost come to blows ( _" - and not the good kind -" "Piss_ off _, Potter!" "Watch your fucking language, Evans!"_ ) over who got to use the shower first. ( _"I mean, I suggested they share it but they just glared at me."_ )

Peter said Black had been acting quieter since Sunday, when Lily had overheard their argument. She hadn't told Peter or Potter about it, mostly because she felt that she shouldn't have heard it in the first place, but also because she felt that if Black or Remus wanted them to know, they'd have told them.

They still had nothing by Wednesday evening.

'If they're still fighting by my birthday, I swear to Merlin,' Potter said as they left the library.

'That's three weeks away, Prongs,' Peter assured him. 'They'll be bestest buddies again by then.'

Potter stopped walking. 'Excuse you! One: _I_ am Sirius's bestest buddy so fuck you,' he said indignantly. 'Two: you've gone and jinxed it now, you absolute pigeon.'

Lily wasn't listening as they bickered on the way up to the tower – she had spotted Severus in the library with that book again and was debating whether or not to go back and confront him for being such a twat.

They got back to the common room and separated as usual, Lily opting to go to upstairs to read the letter she'd gotten from an owl that morning. She had decided not to read it in public because she recognised the familiar slant and curve of the handwriting on the envelope, and the way the 'i's weren't dotted.

So Lily took a deep breath before opening Tuney's letter, knowing full well what would be written, but reading nonetheless.

 _Lily,_

 _Please know that I'm only writing to you to get you to stop writing to me (my neighbours are all very confused about the sudden influx in the owl population of the area – I'm in LONDON, Lily, we don't have many owls), and to get Mum off my back._

 _I've met someone. His name is Vernon. He's perfectly normal and I haven't told him about your little freak school or any of your weirdo magic tricks. Don't come home for Easter. I've invited him over and I don't want you spoiling this for me._

 _Petunia_

Lily stared down at the letter in her hands. She stared at it for so long that the words seemed to merge and lose meaning, just becoming scribbles on a page. She blinked, hard, and carefully placed the letter in her bedside cabinet, where she kept all of her letters from family.

Reminding herself to be happy for Tuney and to ignore the sinking feeling in her stomach, Lily returned to the common room and sat down in front of the fire with Marlene and Hestia.

'Lily, you missed it,' Marlene grinned. 'They made up.'

Lily's head swivelled as she turned to look over to the boys. Sure enough, the table that of late had only been occupied by three now seated four very friendly looking boys, all grinning and laughing as though they hadn't spent over two weeks either yelling or ignoring each other.

Lily turned back to her friends. 'How? What did they say?'

Marlene's attention had shifted – Dorcas had joined them and was now combing her fingers through the mess that was Marlene's hair. Hestia smirked and turned to Lily. 'Basically, as soon as you went upstairs, James just pulled Remus up by the scruff of the neck, dragged him over to Black and starts shouting about how he'd had enough and they were going to be friends or he would write to their mothers.'

Lily snorted. 'Seriously? That's all it took?'

Hestia nodded, looking equally surprised. 'More or less,' she replied. 'He did say something about his birthday and about how they were upsetting you – I didn't know they were upsetting you?'

'They weren't,' Lily said, frowning back at Potter in confusion. 'I mean, I thought they were being dumb and I wanted them to be friends, but it wasn't exactly keeping me up at night.'

Hestia shrugged, burying her head in her book again.

Lily couldn't believe it. Two weeks – _two weeks_ – she'd spent trying to get them to see how stupid they were being, and all it took was Potter threatening to write a couple of letters. _Two fucking weeks_. It was a relief, but it was still frustrating to no end.

The boys were the last to go to bed that night, playing Gobstones (Remus, the reigning champ, had yet to knocked off his throne) until half past four in the morning, Remus consequentially falling asleep in the middle of Transfiguration. This of course landed him a detention ( _"I'm sorry, Mr Lupin, is my class too boring for you?!"_ ), and his friends wasted no time in "disrupting class" so they could share detention with him.

* * *

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 **I'm not entirely sure when I'll be updating next, as I'm going on holidays for a while. I will try to update before I leave though.**

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	7. Fireworks

**What's this? An update after only three days? Merlin's beard! _Don't get your hopes up; it's quite short._**

 **(I own nothing)**

* * *

The first day of April brought mixed feelings to the students and teachers of Hogwarts. While the students were always excited to see what a certain group of trouble-makers did, they were also on edge lest they fall victim to a prank. The teachers, however, were all in agreement – April Fool's Day was quite possibly the most worrying day of the year.

Breakfast, the most sacred of celebrations (according to Marlene at least), was sabotaged. The boys must have found their way into the kitchen or paid off the house-elves or something, for there was no other explanation for the usual spread of eggs, bacon, toast and porridge to be replaced solely by sweets, cakes and chocolate. Not that Lily was complaining.

'Wow, Remus,' Black said, loud enough for even the Slytherins to hear. 'You're really _wolfing_ that chocolate down, aren't you?'

Lily laughed loudly, and the four boys turned to look at her. She was, as far as three of them knew, in the dark about Remus's condition.

'What's so funny?' Hestia asked.

'Um … nothing,' Lily said. 'Just thought of something is all.'

Remus winked at her and she couldn't stop smiling as she winked back. Peter, Potter and Black all looked confused. Dorcas eyed her boyfriend suspiciously until they parted ways for class.

Care of Magical Creatures, strangely, involved a huge black dog bounding up to them halfway through class and refusing to leave, even when Professor Kettleburn tried to herd it away. It ran around the students, jumping up on a desk every now and then, and repeatedly licking an amused yet visibly uncomfortable Remus.

'Professor, this is Care of Magical Creatures,' Peter reasoned, scratching behind the dog's ears. 'Surely we should keep him.'

'It is a dog, Mr Pettigrew, it is _not_ magical!' Professor Kettleburn wheezed, still chasing the very exited dog around. Remus loudly disagreed and said that they shouldn't presume to know this dog's life, and Professor Kettleburn eventually gave up trying to catch it.

The dog stayed, and eventually settled down on the ground beside Peter and Remus and occasionally licking Remus's hand. Lily wasn't sure how they managed to train a dog to do this but honestly, nothing would really surprise her.

With mental images of the four boys spending the last few weeks training a stray they adopted in order to pull this off, Lily made her way to Charms, avoiding the water balloons Peeves was liberally dropping on students.

As soon as Professor Flitwick clambered onto a desk so they could see him, Potter quietly muttered something with an inconspicuous wave of his wand under the desk. He and Remus exchanged smirks, and Lily waited for something to happen.

It wasn't until Professor Flitwick had finished his little speech about how the OWLS were only a month away that something actually happened. They began revising _reparo_ and Peter made a show of not being able to manage it.

'Mr Pettigrew, and you're usually so good at charms!' Professor Flitwick smiled as he walked over to Peter. 'Not to matter; we all have our off-days. You've got the motion just a tad off, you see it's like this – _what in the name of Merlin?!_ '

A large duck sprouted from Professor Flitwick's wand and began waddling around the room in confusion, quacking at students.

Lily thought Professor Flitwick might have gone into cardiac arrest with the shock. It took him over a minute to recover, the entire class in stitches watching the duck, before he raised his wand again. ' _Evanesco!_ '

Yet another duck sprang forth, and soon the classroom was full of them as he tried his best, going red in the face with the effort, to remove them. He eventually resorted to herding them out of the classroom, his students helping him, and leading them to the lake, where they happily took to water and paddled around.

Surprisingly, Professor Flitwick wasn't even angry. He said something about extraordinary magic, and merely asked the four boys to remove the charm. Potter did so, with a wink, and Professor Flitwick was in such a good mood that they finished their lesson by the lake, revising the tickling charm instead.

No one was stupid enough to try anything in Transfiguration. Professor McGonagall stared sternly at the four the moment the walked in, and Lily suspected from Black's face that whatever they had planned was immediately cancelled.

Lunch consisted of regular foods. Marlene, who had refused to eat sweets for breakfast out of principle alone, ate so quickly that she didn't actually talk to her friends the whole meal. The boys were nowhere to be seen.

Halfway through lunch, the dog made a reappearance, bounding straight up to the teachers' table and jumping up onto it. It paused straight in front of Professor McGonagall, who looked both exasperated and amused, and gave it a quick pat on the head. The dog took off, running up and down between tables, sometimes under them. It actually leapt up onto the Slytherin table, running the whole length of it and getting its paws in their food.

The dog successfully dodged every half-hearted attempt at a banishing spell by Professor Flitwick, and yet again evaded Professor Kettleburn – who was now thoroughly enraged by its mere existence. It finally ran back out of the doors, and Lily wondered how on earth the boys had trained it to do _that_.

With lunch now over, students and teachers alike began filing out of the Great Hall, only to stop at the sight of the staircases. Every single set of stairs had been charmed so that, similar the stairs to the girls' dorms, anyone who tried to use them slipped right back down again. Students headed to the dungeon, as Lily was, had no problem and actually anticipated the equivalent of a tower slide to get to class.

What no one counted on was the fact that once one landed in the dungeons, one had to wade knee-deep through bubbles.

Having finally arrived at her desk in the Potions classroom, Lily noticed that there was something off about the room. It took her a few moments to realise that the desks had been moved closer together – not by much, only an inch or so – and that Professor Slughorn's chair had been lowered while his desk had been raised.

As such, most of the lesson was spent giggling while Slughorn bumped into things and cursed under his breath, just loud enough for them all to hear.

The teachers had managed to fix the staircases by the end of Potions, and so Lily made her way to History of Magic, still wading through bubbles.

Every single desk had been turned right around, all facing the door and each desk and chair levitating an inch off the ground. Professor Binns didn't seem to notice a thing out of the ordinary.

The rest of the day's classes were suspiciously quiet. The only unusual thing to happen was that Sirius Black actually took notes in Defence Against the Dark Arts. Lily and her friends, and everyone else she was sure, waited in a mix of eagerness and growing apprehension for the next stunt, but none came.

Classes finished and people went about their own business, some heading off towards the library, some up to the common room (where it was _"safer"_ ). Lily and her friends instead chose to sit in the Herbology corridor, keeping a wary eye out for Peeves and his instant darkness powder.

Dinner time came and went and still nothing out of the ordinary had happened. At this stage, even Professor McGonagall was looking around expectantly every now and then, throwing curious looks in the direction of the Gryffindor table. The four boys acted as though this was any other Thursday, and had no idea why everyone was sending them puzzled looks.

By nine o'clock, sat before the fire in the common room, Lily and her friends were starting to wonder if the boys had decided to downsize this year (after last year's giant-squid-doing-ballet fiasco), and if they were done for the day.

Clambering into bed later that night, Lily had accepted that April Fool's Day had come to a close. But, oh, how wrong she was.

* * *

At precisely three thirty a.m., there was a ridiculously loud screeching from outside that awoke every single person inside the castle. In their room, Marlene was the only one dash to the window, while the other three stirred in their beds, rubbing their eyes in confusion.

'Merlin's balls,' Marlene laughed, gazing out the window with a hand to her mouth. 'You have to see this.'

Lily swung out of bed and sleepily shuffled over to her friend's side. Over the Owlery there seemed to be some sort of murmuration. Every owl on the Hogwarts grounds was circling in the air above the Owlery, giving the impression of a large tornado about to hit.

Marlene left the window, crossed over to her bed and began shoving on shoes and a cardigan over her pyjamas. Lily, Hestia and a rather groggy Dorcas did the same, and descended into the common room.

They were not the only ones – every Gryffindor student was gathered there, all chattering excitedly ( _"I_ told _you they wouldn't be done, Frank!" "Alice, you're forgetting that I agreed with you."_ ), except for a certain four noticeably absent boys.

Lily found Benjy, who was gazing out the window with a huge grin on his face, and they decided that, as prefects, they should find out what was happening.

So Lily, Benjy, Emmeline Vance, Gregory Hayle and Victoria Dervish left the common room in search of a teacher, and found themselves converging with Ravenclaw prefects, who had joined forces with Hufflepuffs (some of them not even prefects), who practically demanded the Slytherins join them all when they bumped into them in the entrance to the Great Hall.

The Slytherins said the teachers were most likely outside, trying to calm the owls, and the rest of the party agreed. They exited the huge front doors, the cold wind biting fiercely at them. As suspected, many of the teachers had wands raised, pointing them in frustration at the birds (Professor Slughorn using more swear words than spells), and the Head Boy and Head Girl were practically shoved towards a bemused Professor Dumbledore to find out what on earth was happening.

Professor Dumbledore told them that he had never seen owls act in this way, and that maybe they should go and ask Professor Kettleburn. Professor Kettleburn looked mortally offended that the owls weren't doing as he commanded, and so the students thought it best not to approach him.

Suddenly, the owls all flew into the Owlery again, leaving the teachers and prefects (and stray Hufflepuffs) very puzzled. That was until, right over the lake, a bright white spark appeared, which grew and grew until it exploded, sending rainbow-coloured firecrackers, Catherine wheels and comets in all directions.

Professor McGonagall looked both proud and exasperated. Lily heard her say something along the lines of, _"at least it's not Dance of the Sugarplum Squid this year,"_ as she lowered her wand. Professor Dumbledore nodded in agreement and watched the fireworks, the colours reflecting in his half-moon glasses.

The display went on for quite some time and Lily forgot how bitingly cold it was. That may have had something to do with the Slytherins starting as small floating fire around which the Hufflepuffs gathered, sharing out marshmallows and hot chocolate (retrieved from Merlin knows where) with everyone – including teachers who feigned disapproval – while Ravenclaws used some sort of charm to ensure that neither the hot chocolate nor marshmallows ran out.

Once the last firecracker had fizzled out, the teachers remembered themselves and herded all the students back inside, ordering them to return to their common rooms and make sure that _everyone_ (they all looked very pointedly at the Gryffindor prefects) was in bed.

The Gryffindor prefects, their exhaustion catching them, drudged all the way upstairs and returned back to the common room. With the fireworks over, most students had returned to the warmth of their beds. There were a few stragglers who had to be given Victoria Dervish's famous don't-test-me look, but apart from that, the prefects all returned to their own rooms.

The four boys didn't reappear until at least five that morning, all still laughing (Peter and Black smelling fiercely of firewhisky), and fell into bed.

Having been disrupted in the middle of the night, almost no teacher was in the mood to teach an actual lesson the next day. Only Professor McGonagall (who gave a speech about not forsaking their educations and, by extension, their futures because of a lack of sleep), Professor Binns (who as usual, had noticed nothing. Several students took naps in that particular class), and Professor Sprout (who went about business as usual).

* * *

 **Thank you very much for reading! Reviews are much appreciated.**

 **There will not be an update until (at the earliest!) late August. Like I said previously, I'm going away and can't lug my computer around with me.**

 **Also, having been reading over my story, I have realised with HORROR that I have spelled Professor McGonagall's name WRONG in every chapter until now. I apologise for any frustration/hopelessness for humanity I may have caused with my error. No one is more annoyed by it than I.**

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	8. Easter

**I'm back! And I own nothing! Enjoy :)**

* * *

Lily's letter to her parents bore no mention of the real reason she was choosing to stay at Hogwarts for the Easter break. All she had said was that her OWLS were coming up soon and she wanted to get some study done while the castle was quiet. She didn't even mention her sister.

Most students went home for the break. Even those who didn't celebrate the holiday were glad of the chance to see their family. By six o'clock on Saturday evening, the majority of the student body was arriving in King's Cross in London.

Only three Gryffindors of Lily's year remained – Lily herself, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin. Remus had only just emerged from the Hospital Wing. He'd had a particularly rough transformation, he'd told her when she brought him a huge bar of Honeyduke's chocolate on Thursday morning. He, however, would be apparating home after dinner.

There were so few students, in fact, that Professor Dumbledore had removed three of the tables from the Great Hall, and now all of the students, no matter which House, sat together. Surprisingly, not a single student complained about the new seating arrangement.

Looking around, Lily noted that not a single Ravenclaw had chosen to stay at Hogwarts for Easter – in her year, at least. Three Hufflepuffs remained – the Wellens twins and Lucy Thompson. Only one Slytherin.

He had chosen a seat far enough from her so that Lily couldn't hear what he was so avidly discussing with some Slytherin sixth and seventh years. Lily suspected it was something to do with that vile book he was so fascinated by.

Remus and Black were laughing and flicking small bits of food at each other. As such, Lily kept having to pick peas and bits of mashed potatoes out of her hair before shooting scolding looks at Black – Black who almost cried when Remus managed to flick some mash and gravy into Black's prized locks.

'I can't wait 'til you leave!' he snapped at the laughing boy. 'Honestly, you're so fucking annoying – do you know how long it takes to wash my hair? The amount of conditioner _alone_ , and then to rinse it out!'

'Maybe you should cut it,' Lily suggested innocently, only to be shot horrified looks by both boys. She shrugged. 'Seriously – please don't make a pun, Remus – if it's so difficult, maybe you should take a few inches off it.'

'Have you gone completely mad, Evans?' Black demanded, running a hand through his hair as if to reassure it of its survival.

Remus smirked. 'I agree with Lily,' he said, turning around to face Black. 'It's getting ridiculous now. It's longer than Dorcas's hair.'

Lily laughed. 'All you need is a beard and you're a young Professor Dumbledore,' she grinned.

Remus choked on his water. 'I can picture it!' he gasped, staring at an unamused Black with wide eyes. 'Oh, Sirius, of only you could grow a beard. You know, he's never had to shave?' he said, turning to Lily.

'I could too grow a beard!' Black cried indignantly. 'Just because I don't want that stupid stubble you have doesn't mean I couldn't grow it.'

Remus cocked his head and smirked. 'Sure you could, Padfoot. Sure you could.'

'I could!' Black barked. 'You're the one who's already getting grey hairs, gramps!'

Lily and Remus both frowned, the latter scanning the former's hair. It was true – Remus did have one or two grey hairs that she could see if she _really_ squinted, but she didn't see the relevance.

'So we've established that I'm an old man,' Remus said slowly. 'And that you're a child who can't even grow stubble.'

' _I can_!' Black practically howled, eliciting startled glances from some Ravenclaw fourth years across from them.

'Oh, Remus, you've made him all self-conscious,' Lily said, using what Dorcas referred to as her "baby voice". 'Poor ickle diddums.'

Remus laughed again and Black's cheeks reddened even further, though he wore an enormous grin. They finished dinner, Remus still teasing Black mercilessly. The three of them walked to the common room, collapsing in front of the fire.

After what felt like hours but could have only been minutes, Remus rose from his slump on the armchair and announced that he was going to get his trunk. He took the stairs two at a time, and Black bound after him, yapping at his heels about how he'd better receive an Easter egg this year.

They emerged moments later, both breathless from the run up the stairs, both grinning. With his trunk levitating behind him, Remus hugged Lily and bid her a wonderful break. He half-saluted half-waved at Black before going to find Professor McGonagall so that they could apparate from Hogsmeade.

Black stared after him long after the portrait hole had closed, before taking to the stairs again. He returned seconds later, having fetched tatty piece of parchment. 'Have to check something,' he muttered as he pushed past Lily, disappearing into the portrait hole like his friend before him.

* * *

Lily, having never spent a holiday at Hogwarts before, was temporarily terrified at waking up alone in the dorm. She momentarily thought she was late for a class and flung herself out of bed, before spotting a small chocolate egg and the end of her bed. She picked it up, suspecting it was from a pitying House Elf, and saved it for after the Feast.

Quickly showering and dressing, Lily descended to the common room and was all but pounced on by Sirius Black. 'I was starting to think you'd be in bed all day!' he whined. 'It's ten o'clock, Evans!'

Ten o'clock was an unusually early for Lily on any day other than a school day, though she did not like to tell him. Instead, she smiled at him and accompanied him to the Great Hall for breakfast.

'Did you get my egg?' Black asked, handing her a mug for her coffee.

'That was from you?' Lily asked sleepily. 'I thought it was from a House Elf or something.'

Black looked offended and put a hand over his heart. 'A _house elf_!' he cried. 'A house elf! Merlin's jug ears, Lily! 'Twas a gift from yours truly.'

'Why?'

'Why?' Black repeated, looking incredulous. 'As a token of our friendship, of course!'

'We're friends?'

'Of _course_ we're friends!' Black howled. 'I don't suppose you got me an egg? Remus didn't, the git. No egg for him next year. At least Peter came through. Big white chocolate thing, very good. Still waiting on James, though.'

All of this went straight over Lily's head as she poured herself another coffee. He must really have been missing his mates to be giving her an egg, she thought. She was grateful for the company, though, no matter how incessant. The break was better spent laughing with Black than trying to dodge a row with Severus. At least he wouldn't come near her with Black at her side.

She just needed some time to figure out if their friendship was worth saving. He might just have been a little misled. She could help show him how disgusting and bigoted all of this blood supremacy stuff truly was. He'd come around. She just needed some space from him for the moment.

'So?' Black asked expectantly.

Lily blinked. 'Sorry, what? Coffee's not quite kicked it yet,' she lied, looking away when Severus arrived at the table with some sixth years.

Black sighed. 'Dumbledore said last night that we might be going to Hogsmeade the Saturday before the others come back. Do you want to go with me?'

Lily smirked. 'I don't think Potter would be too pleased.'

Black laughed. 'Don't flatter yourself, Evans,' he chuckled. 'Would you like to be my platonic date to Hogsmeade next weekend?'

Lily smiled and nodded. 'Just think of all the half-price Honeyduke's eggs!' she said excitedly.

Black laughed again and shook his head. 'Evans, I think this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship,' he smiled, raising his goblet to clink it with her coffee mug.

'I thought you just said we were already friends,' Lily said, sipping from her coffee.

'Don't ruin the moment, Lily!' Black howled.

Lily apologised, smirking, and helped herself to a piece of toast from his plate. He made a mock-indignant face but otherwise all but shoved the rest of his breakfast towards her.

He was just starting to teach her about how the Chudley Cannons would never win the league when they were interrupted by Professor Slughorn.

'Lily, m'dear!' he boomed. Black shot him an annoyed look, his mouth still hanging open from being interrupted mid-word. 'I'm having a little luncheon in my office tomorrow for members of the Club who are still here in Hogwarts. We have very low numbers, I'm afraid – only three and that's if you agree to attend – but we always have fun anyway, don't we? What do you say? Will I see you there?'

Lily nodded enthusiastically, smiling sweetly at him. 'Of course, Professor, looking forward to it,' she smiled.

Professor Slughorn positively beamed. 'Excellent!' he rubbed his hands together. 'Oh, and Mr Black, you could attend too, if you wish. Your brother is always such a delight. A pity he's not here too.'

Black looked as though he was about to decline with some sort of snappy remark but he caught Lily's eyes. She nodded at him, practically begging him to accept. 'Uh, I'd love to, Professor,' he said uncertainly, looking at Lily. 'Tomorrow then.'

'Fantastic!' Professor Slughorn clapped his hands together. 'My office at two o'clock. Oh, and Lily, I've managed to get some of that treacle tart you liked so much from the last meeting.'

Lily smiled at him and he turned to shuffle back to the teachers' table. Black raised a perfectly arched eyebrow at her.

'He said there's only three people going,' Lily explained. 'Which means me, Sev, and Michael Carter, if I'm correct.'

Black scrunched up his nose as if someone was waving a rotten fish below it. 'I have to eat lunch with him? I won't be able to keep any food down just looking at Snivellus's greasy head.'

'Don't call him that!' Lily snapped. He held up his hands in apology and she nodded, her tone softening. 'I just think it would be more fun with you there. Angelica at least stands up against the pureblood supremacy but she's not here. I figure you'd make a pretty good substitute, if not an even funnier one.'

Black grinned. 'You think I'm funny, Evans?'

'I think you can be,' Lily said steadily. 'When you and _Potter_ aren't going around hexing first years for a laugh.'

'We haven't hexed a first year since third year,' Black corrected. 'And he was asking for it.'

'Yeah? What did he do to make you and Potter send him to Madam Pomfrey.'

Black looked down. 'Just me, not James,' he muttered. 'And he … nothing,' he said, suddenly bright again. 'He wasn't asking for it, actually. He was just there.'

Lily scoffed and rolled her eyes. Black said nothing for the rest of the meal. He picked at his food, pushing it around his plate with a fork, and Lily wasn't sure if she even saw a bite pass his lips.

They returned to the common room and Black immediately challenged her to a game of Wizard's Chess.

Lily had never played before, and was constantly taken aback by just how brutal it really was. Every time she tried to manually move a piece, forgetting she wasn't playing regular chess, the piece would swat her fingers with hard marble arms, and Black would giggle. When the game was finished, Black was triumphant and Lily was rubbing at her sore right hand.

'I'm going to get some studying done before lunch,' she told him. He almost seemed to consider joining her, but opted to go for a walk instead.

They met up again for lunch, and then he tried desperately to get her to join him in the four-on-four quidditch he had agreed to with some other students. Lily laughed and declined, but he dragged her to the stands to cheer him on anyway.

They returned to the common room two hours later, beaming from victory, and both covered in mud (Lily wasn't sure how she managed it, what with being in the stands the whole time, but somehow there was a thick layer of mud all over her trousers.)

Black and Miles Turner broke out the butterbeers and bellowed along to a record of Black's ( _"It's_ Queen _, Lily! A classic!"_ ), all while Lily and Leanne Mormont watched on in amusement.

* * *

Lily and Black walked briskly to Professor Slughorn's office. They were already late; Black had persuaded her to play Exploding Snap with him ( _"A little more your speed, I think, Lily,"_ ) and they'd gotten a little carried away.

They arrived outside the door, burn marks on their sleeves, and Lily turned to look sternly at Black. 'No teasing Sev,' she said warningly. 'Only voice your opinions if it's in a polite and respectful manner. And absolutely _no_ hexing anyone.'

Black held his hands up, his face the epitome of innocence, as if he couldn't fathom why she would possibly have to set rules for him. Lily's apprehension about the entire situation tripled.

With a deep breath, she rapped on the door and twisted the doorknob. They stepped inside the office, Black closing the door behind them. Professor Slughorn, Sev and Michael Carter turned to face them, clearly mid-conversation.

'Lily! Mr Black!' Professor Slughorn smiled, standing up to vigorously shake their hands and usher them inside. 'Do come in. Help yourselves. I must say, the house elves have really outdone themselves this time. The potato salad is sublime.'

Lily took a seat to the left of Carter, and Black took the only one left at the table – between Lily and Severus. He winked at the paler boy as he sat down, smirking as Severus shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

'Lily, Sirius, we were just discussing the vetoing of the Werewolf Bill,' Professor Slughorn said. 'Now, Lily, I know you were very vocally opposed to it -'

Black turned and looked at Lily in surprise. He still didn't know that she knew, then. Lily wondered why Remus hadn't told his friends. They obviously knew of his condition.

'- But Sirius, what did you think of the Bill? And how do you feel about it being vetoed?' Professor Slughorn asked.

Black seemed to take a moment to gather his thoughts, being eyed by the rest of the table as he poured himself and Lily some pumpkin juice.

'Well, Professor,' he began, in a tone Lily recognised. It was the tone he reserved for attempts to get out of detentions, or feigning innocence. 'I was always completely opposed to the Bill.'

'That's very interesting,' Carter said, genuinely sounding curious. 'Your brother was a big supporter of it. He made some truly excellent points.'

Black scoffed. 'Yes, well, Reg is like our parents' parrot.'

Professor Slughorn nodded musingly. 'I believe I met Orion and Walburga a few years back. More than a few, actually; I don't think you were even born!' he laughed. Black remained expressionless. 'Charming people. Very intelligent.'

'Right,' Black said simply, staring down at his plate.

There was an uncomfortable lull in the conversation and Lily regretted inviting him. It wasn't that she thought him poor company. On the contrary, she was actually warming to him quite a bit. But she got the feeling that the luncheon would be going better if he were out playing quidditch with Turner and his friends.

'So, Sirius, what was it that made you opposed to the Bill?' Professor Slughorn asked after at least a minute of silence.

Black looked up from his plate, as if surprised that Professor Slughorn would want to ask him any more questions. 'I suppose I just thought it was cruel, Professor,' he said, his voice bright and clear again. 'Especially that clause saying that all werewolves would have to carry that stupid _lycanthrope identity card_. Overall, I just thought it treated them as if they were second-class citizens. As if they weren't even human.'

'But they're not human,' Severus quipped. He very suddenly looked horrified, as if he didn't mean to vocalise that particular thought. His black eyes went wide and he looked down deliberately at his lap.

Lily tried to remember a time when he voluntarily contributed to discussion, and found that she couldn't. He was always prompted by Professor Slughorn.

'Severus,' Professor Slughorn sounded equally surprised at Severus's input. 'Your opinion is always valued. 'Please, do share.'

Severus went a shade of purple. He looked around the table from behind a curtain of black hair, apparently deciding that, because of the low number of attendees, he was safe. He continued.

'Well, they're not human, are they?' it was more of a statement than a question. Black was already glaring at him. 'They're monsters as soon as they're bitten. They're a danger to society. What's to stop them killing or turning innocents? They could unleash themselves on us and there'd be nothing we could do. The Bill made perfect sense in my eyes.'

Lily's blood ran cold as she avoided looking at him. She knew there was a stigma attached to werewolves, but surely if Severus truly understood, then surely he would be a bit more open-minded? Maybe she'd recommend he read _Hairy Snout, Human Heart._

'No one _asks_ to be bitten,' Black said, loud and aggressive. 'Every single one of them was an 'innocent' as you say. You think some poor five year old wanted to be cursed with that horror for the rest of their life? And they don't wait for full moons to _unleash themselves_! You think they mark it on their calendar in anticipation, excitedly waiting for the opportunity kill people? The majority of them would rather die than harm someone else, even a stranger. They lock themselves up so they can't hurt anyone, and just end up hurting themselves.'

'All due respect, Black,' Carter interrupted, sounding anything but respectful. 'But how would you know?'

Black faltered and the tips of his ears went red. 'Look, I'm just glad the bill was vetoed, okay?' he said weakly.

Lily nodded and put a hand on his arm. He was clearly seething – so was she, really, but at least she knew how to hide it. Sirius Black was full of rage, and Lily could understand his ire in this instance.

Professor Slughorn was looking anxiously between the three boys as if worried that a brawl might erupt. But Carter was too well-raised, and Lily doubted that Severus would even try to defend himself, let alone hit back. If it was a duel, yes, but an actual physical brawl? He wouldn't lift a finger.

'Maybe we should go,' Lily cleared her throat, looking pointedly at Black. He avoided her eyes, glaring instead at his goblet as if it offended him. He shrugged her hand away when she tightened her grip on his wrist.

Black snapped his eyes away from his drink and looked up, a smile plastered to his face. 'Yes, thank you for having me, Professor,' he simpered. 'It's been charming but I should take my leave.'

He stood up, bowed (to Lily's amusement) and sauntered out of the office.

Lily hushed apologies and thanks to Professor Slughorn, who waved them away knowingly, before rushing after Black.

'What on _earth_ was that about?' she exclaimed when she caught up to him.

'I think it went quite well, don't you?' Black smiled, though it didn't quite reach his eyes. 'Snivellus still has his greasy hair on his giant head, and I didn't punch that Carter prick in his stupid smug face.'

Lily stared at him in disbelief. 'Have you completely lost your mind?!' she screeched. Black winced and automatically took a step back. 'You think that went well because you managed not to hit someone? What is the _matter_ with you?!'

Black suddenly looked ashamed and rather reminded Lily of a scolded puppy.

'Look, I know why it upset you,' she said, much softer now, and put a hand on his arm. 'I know it was too close to home, what with Remus and everything -'

'How do you know about Remus?' Black asked quickly, his eyes narrowing as he shook off her hand again.

'Because I'm not a fucking idiot,' Lily snapped, annoyed. 'Don't worry, he knows his secret's safe with me. But you must learn to keep your head.'

Black looked as though he wanted to protest and for a split second seemed like he would, but to Lily's surprise, he sighed, nodded and started walking again.

Lily didn't follow him; he needed a little time to blow off steam, she could tell, and so she returned to the common room.

* * *

Black – _Sirius_ (Lily really had to remember to make an effort to call him by his name seeing as he'd so politely asked), like every morning since the beginning of the holidays, bounded up to her as soon as she set foot in the common room on Saturday morning. Instead of chattering like before, he talked now; he had calmed down over the last few days and now his voice was a perpetual drawl.

It still didn't stop his words going straight over Lily's head when all she could think about was a few more minutes in bed and a giant cup of coffee.

Breakfast was a quick one; Lily had risen even later than usual and Sirius had no way of waking her up seeing as Leanne Mormont flat-out refused to risk incurring Lily's wrath. It was well-known to never, _ever_ wake her.

With such a short frame of time, Lily just about managed a slice of toast and two coffees before they had to leave. Sirius drank tea and took a few bites of an apple, once again going into great detail about the certain failure of the Chudley Cannons in the league this year.

Filch began yelling something and Sirius leapt up from the table. He extended a hand, which Lily graciously took, and escorted her to the line of eager students. He was as chatty as usual, if not chattier, and as such Lily didn't manage a full sentence until they reached the village.

'Where to first, Sirius?' she asked, watching as the rest of the students splintered into their own groups.

'Personally, I'd like to visit Zonkos,' Sirius replied. 'But if you'd rather go somewhere else, I'm perfectly fine with that.'

Lily smiled. 'Zonko's it is then,' she said, and led him by the wrist to the joke shop. If she had realised just how long he would spend in there, Lily would have asked to get a drink first. Just under an hour later, the emerged, Sirius having bought what seemed like the entire contents of the shop. Lily offered him her handbag and he practically recoiled as if it were filled with explosives.

'I put an undetectable extension charm on it, you idiot,' she rolled her eyes. 'And a feather-light charm, so I can carry whatever you bought.'

Sirius looked surprised as he handed over the many bags of Zonko's products. 'I'm impressed, Evans,' he said. 'Are you actually planning on buying that many Easter Eggs that you couldn't carry them like a normal person?'

'Yes,' Lily smiled, closing her bag and hanging it over her shoulder again. 'I need to buy some more quills; all of mine have gone missing and I can't keep stealing from Madam Pince. She's scary enough as is.'

Sirius nodded in agreement and they visited Scrivenshaft's where Lily wished she could just buy a packet of biros. Sirius moped and dragged his feet inside the shop, and Lily felt as though she was babysitting a stubborn toddler.

'Will you please grow up!' she hissed when he knocked a shelf of perfectly arranged inkwells to the floor. 'You're not a child!'

He scowled at her, pawing at the doorknob in an effort to remind her that there were actual exciting places to go.

'I'll buy you an egg if you behave yourself,' she tried, and he immediately picked up.

True to her word, Lily did buy him an egg. From The Magic Neep.

'Do you think this is funny, Evans?' Sirius asked disdainfully, holding up the duck egg she had presented him with.

Lily smirked. 'I promised you an egg,' she said simply, doing her best not to laugh at his betrayed expression. 'There you are. An egg.'

He scowled and she began to giggle. 'I swear, you and Remus are the worst …' he muttered, and continued grumbling until they got to Honeyduke's.

Ambrosius Flume was all but flinging leftover Easter eggs at the (mostly uninterested) passers-by. Lily and Sirius stockpiled on them, taking at least five each, and Lily also bought several bars of dark chocolate, some sugar quills, a bag of crystallised pineapple in the hopes that she could present it to Professor Slughorn and he might forget about the luncheon. He hadn't spoken to her since.

Black – _Sirius_ bought, once again, nearly everything in the shop. With all they had intended to buy having been bought and stowed in Lily's feather-light handbag, they ventured into the Three Broomsticks.

Lily had never seen it so empty before. There was only a handful of students there – all sat together in a corner by the fire – and all the rest locals. On closer inspection of the other students, they were all Slytherins – all the type Severus had taken to spending his time with.

Sirius ignored the glares and snide glances emanating from that particular corner, and strode purposefully to the bar. 'Evening, Ros,' he smiled, looking the barmaid up and down. 'Two butterbeers please, love.'

Madam Rosmerta chuckled and went about getting their drinks. Lily continued eyeing the other students while Sirius hummed a tune she didn't recognise. Severus wasn't among the gathering anyway. They kept looking over their shoulders as if fearful that someone might overhear them.

Two butterbeers were presented to Sirius and Lily, the latter pressing money into Madam Rosmerta's hand with a smirk and a wink. The barmaid laughed and moved on to serve another patron.

Lily and Sirius found themselves a table by a window, on the opposite side of the room from the Slytherins. 'What do you think they're talking about?' Sirius asked, seeing Lily still watching the other students.

Lily shrugged. 'Probably about how they're all going to join You-Know-Who as soon as they get out of school,' she replied. 'Maybe the _Knights of Walpurgis_ do summer internships.'

Sirius scoffed and nodded. 'You know they're calling themselves Death Eaters now?' he said. 'Fucking _Death Eaters_. What does that even mean?'

'At least they're not calling themselves knights any more,' Lily said. 'As if they're heroes fighting some sort of noble cause.'

Sirius exhaled shortly. 'They think they are,' he scorned. 'They actually think Muggleborns are scum. _They're_ scum.'

Lily only nodded. Neither of them said another word for quite a while and Lily eventually finished her butterbeer. She offered to buy him another too, seeing as he'd paid for hers. He accepted, and she went to the bar to get some more. By the time she got back, he was talking to … a mirror. Sirius Black was talking to a _mirror._

'I knew you were vain, but this is a bit much,' she laughed, sitting back down beside him. 'Even you must admit that.'

He flushed and shoved the mirror back in his pocket. Lily thought she heard a familiar laugh, but she couldn't have. The inn was all but empty and _he_ was at home.

'Got to keep up my appearance, Lily,' Sirius replied with a grin. 'This -' he waved a hand over his face '- doesn't come easy.'

Lily raised her eyebrows, smirking at him as she handed him a gladly accepted butterbeer. In exchange for the drink, Sirius launched back into his explanation of the Chudley Cannon's certain defeat from where he'd left off when they arrived in the village, even though Lily had heard it in its entirety at least three times over the break so far. Maybe he literally had nothing else to say.

They finished their butterbeers again, having fallen into a comfortable silence, during which Lily suspiciously eyed the Slytherins and Sirius read a joke book he'd bought in Zonko's, laughing heartily and dog-earing pages he said Peter would love.

Lily excused herself to go to the toilet while Sirius bought them more butterbeers. Only when she returned, he hadn't bought butterbeers; there was a bottle of Firewhisky on their table, and Sirius was beaming proudly beside it.

'How did you get that?' Lily asked incredulously.

He scoffed. 'Ros and I are good mates,' he said with a smirk. 'I'm very charming, you know. She took a little persuading, but I just flashed her one of these -' he grinned, winking, and Lily felt herself blush, which she absolutely did not understand. She was most certainly in no way attracted to Sirius Black. '- and she gave in. So drink up, Lily. Can't let this go to waste.'

Lily rolled her eyes and sat back down. She had two small glasses, and refused the rest. He downed the rest of it by himself, and Lily didn't know if she was disgusted or impressed.

That was until he leaned in and burped rather loudly in her face. Then she was most definitely disgusted.

'I think we should get you back home, yeah?' Lily said, standing up and offering her hand. He refused it, standing up independently, though he did wobble a bit. Lily raised her eyebrows at him and gripped his elbow to keep him steady while they walked.

On their way out, Lily made the mistake of accidentally – and most unfortunately – making eye-contact with one of the Slytherins.

'What are you looking at, _mudblood_?'

Sirius's wand was out before Lily could even register what was happening.

Suddenly all the Slytherins rose at once, whipping their wands out in unison. It would have been comical had Lily not been terrified.

Sirius waved his wand quickly, not even muttering spells, and two of the six Slytherins were flung back against the wall. Lily and Madam Rosmerta screamed. The Slytherins retaliated but Sirius was too quick for them, and blocked them lazily – with Lily's help. She didn't even remember drawing her wand.

A gash appeared across Sirius's face and Madam Rosmerta shrieked again, ducking behind the bar with her hands over her ears. What few locals were inside apparated out, and Lily was furious that they didn't even try to intervene.

Sirius flinched, teetered, and almost stumbled back against a table. Lily caught him by the elbow and dragged him up while casting another _protego_.

He regained his balance and lashed out again, stunning what looked like a third year – _a child_ – and stumbled again. Another gash appeared, ripped through his jumper this time, and he slumped to the ground. Lily cast another _protego maxima_ and helped him to his feet. She began trying to drag him to the door but he shrugged her off in anger, his eyes burning.

With the realisation that he could very well die here, Lily saw no reasonable alternative. So she stunned him.

The Slytherins jeered with vicious laughter until Lily hexed all of their mouths shut. With Sirius still dazed, Lily dragged him out of the inn and back towards the castle.

Lily paused once it was in sight. Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall would surely know all about what happened in the Three Broomsticks by now. Sirius was in enough trouble. He didn't need to show up smelling as though he'd bathed in Firewhisky.

She forced Sirius to sit on a tree stump at the side of the path, and set to work. Minutes later and they both smelled of roses, and Sirius had not a scratch on him. He was still woozy, though, but Lily didn't know how to fix that. So she sat cross-legged on the ground beside him, waiting for him to be able to see straight again.

His grey eyes came back into focus and he blinked hard, turning to glower at her. 'I had it handled, Evans,' he growled. 'I didn't need you to humiliate me like that.'

'Oh, I know, you usually manage that by yourself,' Lily retorted, not entirely meaning to. 'Sirius, they could have killed you. Bulstrode in there, he would have killed you. I couldn't just stand there while you fought yourself to death.'

Sirius huffed and looked at his shoes. Lily watched him carefully as he rose slowly from the tree stump, walked about a yard or two, limping slightly. 'That was quite the stunning hex, Lily,' he said begrudgingly. 'You been practising?'

Lily shrugged, hiding her reddening face with a curtain of her hair. 'Kind of have to, what with everything that's going on out there. You still hurt?' she asked watching in alarm as he stumbled and almost fell.

He regained his composure and plastered on one of those smiles that didn't reach his eyes. 'Just my ego, Lily,' he replied, but he continued limping on the way up to the castle.

'Does it scare you?'

'What, your ego? A bit, yeah.'

Sirius laughed. 'The whole Pureblood Supremacy thing,' he elaborated. 'It would certainly scare me if I were in your position. It _does_ scare me.'

Lily didn't quite know what to say. 'Why would it scare you?' she asked after a moment. 'You're a pureblood. You're a Black.'

Sirius sneered and glared at nothing in particular. 'I'm the disappointment of the family because I don't celebrate whenever Lord Voldemort kills another muggleborn,' he said, his voice low and gruff. 'I'm the Blacks' black sheep, if you will.' He smirked at his own feeble joke and removed his arm from Lily's shoulder, now able to walk by himself.

Lily, again, had not a clue how to reply. So she said nothing while he kicked a stone up the path.

* * *

The castle steps came into view. Professor McGonagall and Professor Slughorn were stood at the top of them, both looking positively furious.

'Black!' Professor McGonagall screeched. 'I expected as much from you! But Miss Evans! You are a _prefect,_ let me remind you, and you have certain not-hexing-fellow-students standards to uphold! I would -'

'Professor, all Lily did was cast protective charms to make sure no one got hurt,' Sirius interrupted. 'She actually stopped it all.'

'Black, shut your mouth for once in your – oh,' Professor McGonagall eyed Lily, who had gone tomato red, with suspicion. 'Well, if that's the case … no, Lily, I'm sorry, but you still used magic outside of the castle. I'm sorry, but I have to dock points. Twenty should do it.'

'Twenty?!' Sirius exclaimed. 'Professor, she stopped the fighting! You should award points.'

Lily was speechless as Sirius continued trying to dissuade a steadfast Professor McGonagall. She'd never been in trouble before (not like this anyway) and her stomach felt like it had dropped to her feet. Her hands were shaky – her whole body was shaky – and clammy and she could feel her throat tightening.

She didn't hear the rest of what Professor McGonagall said. It was only when she looked at Lily expectantly and motioned towards the door did Lily understand that she was to go inside.

She nodded dumbly and let go of Sirius's arm, which she had no memory of taking but she found herself clinging to it nevertheless. She trembled up the steps, feeling as though she could collapse at any moment, and stood just inside the door.

Once she had partially recovered from the shock of being on the receiving end of one of Professor McGonagall's famous tirades, Lily listened for more yelling.

Surprisingly, there was none. She strained her ears even further, and could just about make out Professor McGonagall's voice. The door swung open and Lily gasped, jumping back against the wall in surprise. Professor Slughorn entered, moving remarkably quickly for a man of his size. He didn't see her as she caught the door just before it closed.

Lily peered outside and saw Sirius and Professor McGonagall sat on a step – the same step – with not much room between them. Sirius had his head in his hands, his hair falling down past his shoulders, and Professor McGonagall had her hand on his shoulder, occasionally patting him sympathetically.

Even though she couldn't make out a word, Lily knew she was intruding on something very private, something Sirius would really rather she didn't see. So, even with her curiosity burning, she quietly closed the door and waited patiently in the corridor.

The door flung open again after just under ten minutes (not that Lily was counting) and Professor McGonagall stormed in. 'Yes, Mr Black, I mean it! Detentions every Wednesday from now until the end of the school year!' She threw Sirius a wink Lily wasn't supposed to see, and turned.

'Miss Evans, those were some excellent healing charms,' she said, sounding strangely rehearsed. 'I'm awarding Gryffindor House twenty points for such impressive magic.' With that, Professor McGonagall strode down the corridor, robes flapping around her heels, and out of sight. Lily was flabbergasted. Her charms hadn't been _that_ good.

Sirius, seeing her bewildered expression, explained, 'I told her exactly what happened and what Rosier called you. Honestly, you should have seen her face. I've never seen anyone so angry.'

Lily murmured her thanks and retreated to the common room with him; the Slytherins would be returning soon, and she'd rather not have to duel them again.

A small group of Gryffindors sat in a commune by the fire. Each one looked up, startled and wide-eyed, when Lily and Sirius walked past, some nudging and whispering to one another. _How have they heard already_?

Sirius held his head high, winked at Yara Tyrell of sixth year, and strutted over to the chess table. Lily couldn't figure out how he did it. Was it like this every time he and the rest of the boys got in trouble?

The other students continued eyeing them until the two of them sat down, at which point they turned back around and returned to their hushed whisperings.

'They're always going to talk, Lily' Sirius breezed. 'You grow thick skin and you ignore it. They'll say what they want and you can't stop them. No point in trying.'

Lily watched him line up his pawns and wondered how many false rumours about him she'd believed.

They began their game, Lily's hands much steadier now that they'd sat down, and her breathing regulating at last.

'Those charms were quite good though,' Sirius said nonchalantly. 'Some of them I didn't even know.'

'Maybe if you did your homework, you would know them.'

Sirius raised an eyebrow, smirking. 'Don't try that, Evans,' he retorted. 'We did _not_ learn those. And I do my homework. Sometimes.'

Lily flushed. 'I practice stunning and I practice healing. So what?'

Sirius shrugged. 'Knight to E5,' he commanded, and the chess-piece obeyed. 'Why have you been practising? Dumbledore's here. Apparently this Lord Voldemort twat's afraid of him. Don't ask me why, though. I think he's as mad as a bag of Minnies.'

Lily didn't reply. 'Queen to E5.'

'Son of a harpy!' Sirius screeched, attracting looks from the other Gryffindors. 'Evans, you crafty minx!'

Lily laughed. He was letting her win, it was obvious. But she could still enjoy the theatrics.

'So anyway, you've been practising,' he continued, now at an acceptable volume. 'And I'd wager it's because that was not the first time someone called you a mudblood.'

Lily flinched. He said the word so casually, as if it were any other, as if it didn't bear the hatred it incited in most. It could have been a term of endearment the way it dripped from his mouth.

'It's not just me, though, it's all the muggleborns,' Lily said quietly. 'I can't imagine what it's like for the Slytherin muggleborns. I can't even bear Mulciber hissing it at me when I walk past. How bad do you reckon they have it, living with that whole mentality?'

'Are there Muggleborn Slytherins?'

'Of course there are,' Lily said. 'There has to be at least one. Maybe they lie about being half-blood or something, but there's no way there's not at least one in the entire House.'

Sirius shrugged and Lily felt a flash of annoyance at his disregard. 'That's all they do, though?' he asked. 'They just say it? Nothing else?'

'Well … there was a few months ago when I was looking for Sev – shut up – I was looking for Sev, and Avery and Wilkes told me that Mulciber had his eye on me and if I knew what was good for me I wouldn't get on his bad side because he might pay me a visit.'

She really didn't know why she told Sirius that. She'd not told anyone that and here she was, telling the boy she'd only just started hanging out with.

Sirius was frozen, starting across at her with his eyebrows furrowed over saucer-sized eyes. Lily had only seen him speechless once before. It was extremely unnerving.

'But I'm sure they were just trying to sound all macho in front of their friends, you know?' Lily tried to dismiss it. 'They probably didn't even -'

'They fucking _threatened_ you, Lily,' Sirius hissed, aghast. 'You told a teacher, right – _Merlin_ , Lily, you should tell a teacher! What if they're not joking? What if they actually attack you?'

'They won't,' Lily shook her head vehemently. 'They're just boys, Sirius, they're just sixteen. Can you imagine yourself attacking someone based on blood status?' Sirius looked down, and Lily wondered if she'd offended him. 'I'm not saying you _would_ , you idiot, I'm saying they're just like us but they've been raised in a shitty situation. Not everyone's brave enough to stand up to their parents' ideals.'

Sirius crossed his arms and looked down at his wrist. Lily got the feeling they had finished their chess game.

'Anyway, it's not like I did nothing about it,' she continued. 'I've been practising Defence with Alice Fortescue – she wants to be an Auror, see, needs top marks in her NEWTS so it's of mutual benefit.'

Sirius nodded, dumbstruck. He looked numb to everything around him, eyes trained on his last pawn on the chessboard. It was as if he was still recovering from Lily's earlier stunning spell.

'Rook to H4,' Lily said in an effort to break the silence. The other students in the common room were beginning to notice. Sirius snapped back to reality as she demolished his last pawn.

'Lily, you've got quite the warhead on you,' he smirked. 'You know careers are coming up soon. Any idea what you'd like to do?'

'Healing, I think,' Lily replied instantly. 'I always wanted to be a nurse when I was little and magic healing is so interesting, and just think off all you could treat if you combined both muggle and magical medicine, and especially in areas such as mental maladies, where honestly the wizarding world really is lacking -'

'Wow, sorry, don't mean to be rude, Lily, but you lost me quite early that time,' Sirius smiled. 'I can see you as a Healer, actually. Bustling around Mungo's making sure everyone's got fresh flowers and stuff.'

'What about you?'

'Don't think the uniform would quite suit me, no.'

Lily laughed. 'What do you want to do? You have to have thought about it, at least a little bit.'

Sirius shrugged and leaned back lazily, kicking off the floor to swing back in his chair. Lily half-expected Professor Flitwick to swoop in and start yelling about safety. 'Not a clue,' Sirius replied. 'I suppose being stunningly good-looking isn't quite the future old Minnie had hoped for me.'

 _Old Minnie_ , Lily smirked. 'What do your family do?' she asked idly, momentarily forgetting who she was speaking to.

'Father's a Wards Master,' Sirius replied immediately. 'Mummy Dearest is and always has been filthy rich. And you? What do your folks do?'

'Mum runs a bakery with her friend Barbara,' Lily smiled. Just thinking about the small shop conjured the aroma of freshly baked cakes. 'Dad runs a garage. For cars,' she elaborated when Sirius looked confused. 'Muggles aren't all too familiar with _reparo_.'

Sirius looked genuinely interested, and she honestly couldn't tell if he really was or not. 'You have a sister, right? How old is she?'

Lily felt a tiny stab. She would have been at home if it weren't for Petunia. She supposed she could see her sister's logic; she would probably do something stupid in front of this Vernon guy, and probably scare him away from her sister. But that didn't mean she had to go from Christmas until summer before seeing her parents. She could have just gone out when Vernon was to come over.

'You alright?' Sirius asked, looking worried.

Lily nodded and smiled. 'Just a bit dizzy for a sec,' she replied. 'Petunia's nineteen. She's a secretary. She types and answers the telephone in an office. Oh, a telephone … well, muggles use them to talk to each other when we can't see each other, I guess. I actually don't quite know how to explain it.'

'Maybe you could show me over the summer,' Sirius suggested.

'Sure,' Lily grinned, a sudden idea making her beam. 'I'll take you round muggle-London. We'll go to record stores and maybe a cinema.'

Sirius smiled. 'Sounds good,' he said. 'Another platonic date, then.'

* * *

Professor McGonagall had been in a rather generous mood on Sunday morning, and smiled as she granted Sirius's request when he strode up to her at breakfast. As a result, Lily, Sirius and a few other students were stood on the train platform in Hogsmeade, waiting eagerly to see their friends.

Sirius was behaving how Lily imagined a dog would, awaiting its owner's return. He moved from one foot to the other every few seconds. He stuck his neck out so he could see further down the train tracks, ignoring Hagrid worrying over him and yanking him away from the white line on the platform.

'Relax,' Lily told him. 'They won't be here for another five minutes, at least.'

Five minutes later and the train was still missing. Sirius was now pacing quick circles around Lily.

'Could you stop?' she snapped at him. 'You're making me dizzy! They'll be here soon. Stop getting yourself all worked up.'

Sirius "hmphed" but otherwise didn't respond. Lily couldn't understand his bizarre behaviour. He'd only seen his friends a fortnight ago. If this was how he acted over short breaks, she'd hate to see how he was over the summer.

The train pulled in at twenty past five and Sirius bounded towards a particular carriage he must have seen his friends in. She waited where she was as the students spilled out of the train doors, squinting to see her friends. She spied Dorcas's hair (unruly and frizzy as always), and pushed through towards her.

She spotted Marlene beside her and could just about make out the top of Hestia's head beside Marlene as she approached. Lily arrived in front of her friends, beaming, and was pulled into a tight embrace by Hestia.

'Lil!' she exclaimed, as if surprised to see her. 'We missed you! Diagon Alley was no fun without you with us – we ran into Benjy, though, spent some time with him and Dean Singer which was pretty cool, he's … you know, doesn't matter, you're here and we're happy!'

Lily was finally released by Hestia, only to be dragged into a bone-crushing hug by Marlene, which was joined by Dorcas. Marlene, Lily silently noted, looked paler and carried purple bags under her eyes. She glanced around every few seconds, as if searching for someone, and smiled the way she pretended to smile for those few weeks after Owen died.

'Marlene, are you -'

'You knew I couldn't owl it,' Remus said testily behind them, and Lily turned to look. He was stood opposite Sirius, who was clutching a large chocolate egg to his chest, staring back accusingly at Remus. 'It would have killed the poor owl. You didn't have to send me a bloody howler about it. My parents kept asking if I was being bullied or something.'

Peter and Potter laughed, and Sirius made a disgruntled face. 'You could have just said that in your letter instead of going on about James's new broom – which you,' he turned to Potter. 'Have to let me test out, by the way!'

'Me too,' Marlene nodded, grinning at Potter. 'I haven't even seen it yet.'

The eight of them began making their way up to the castle together, Hestia and Dorcas telling Lily all about Diagon Alley while Marlene chattered with Sirius and Potter about quidditch, and Remus and Peter laughed about something stupid Potter had done or said on the train.

The six returning students needed to put their trunks in their rooms, and were accompanied by Sirius and Lily. By the time they had done so and entered the Great Hall, Lily and Sirius seemed to have become infamous among the rest of the student body.

People turned in their seats and openly stared as Lily and her friends found their usual spot at the table. Lily stayed behind Dorcas with her shoulders hunched and her head low, hair forming a sort of blinkers so she could at least try to pretend it wasn't happening.

Sirius, as expected, acted no different and even threw a wink in the direction of the Slytherin table when he strutted in, followed closely by Peter.

'Lily,' Benjy appeared across from her. 'Is it true what they're saying?' he was wide-eyed and horrified, and ignored the smile Hestia sent him. Lily wondered what the version going around the school was.

'What have you heard?' she asked wearily. Looking down the table, she could see Sirius being interrogated by a disappointed looking Remus Lupin. Peter looked to be hanging on his every word as he watched Sirius act out what had happened using a cast of salt and pepper shakers. Potter patted him proudly on the back.

Of course Potter would think this was a proud and valiant thing. Of bloody course he would. _It's a tradition of Gryffindor to pick a fight with Slytherin. The natural order._

'Someone said you and Sirius Black attacked a couple of Slytherins in the Three Broomsticks yesterday?' Benjy breathed.

Lily rolled her eyes. 'Of course that's not true,' she said. As if _she'd_ go around attacking people. 'One of them called me a mudblood -' Benjy flinched. '- and Sirius defended me. And there were six of them, not two. They could have killed him.'

Benjy looked reassured. Lily wondered if he'd actually believed the version of events he'd originally heard. 'And you're okay?' he asked. 'You weren't hurt?'

Lily smiled and shook her head in response. He really was quite sweet.

'They called you a _what_?' Marlene growled. Hestia looked murderous and Dorcas kept a hand on the other girl's wand arm.

'It's not a big deal,' Lily said quickly. 'It's not like it was the first time or anything, it's not going to be the last time. People say what they say and you can't stop them. Thick skin and all that.'

'Why didn't you tell us?' Dorcas demanded, and suddenly Lily was rather afraid her friends might start a war in the Great Hall. 'Lily, you should have told us – you at least told a teacher, right – Lily, for fucks sake, how could you _not_ tell a teacher?!'

'Because it's not a big deal,' Lily tried to calm her friends. Dorcas had relinquished her grip on Hestia's arms and now she was gripping her own wand inside the pocket of her robes. 'They've not done anything else, and it's not like I'm the only one, it's every mudblood – I mean muggleborn - '

Hestia was on her feet, though with her height not many people noticed. Marlene was visibly fuming. Lily wouldn't have been too surprised if smoke started coming from her ears.

Dorcas jumped to her feet and stormed out of the Great Hall, barrelling and shoving past Jackson Wiles as she did so, muttering something about _"spineless cowards_." Marlene followed quickly after her, calling her back in vain. Remus looked in concern after his girlfriend, and excused himself from his friends to follow her.

They sat in silence for several minutes while Lily nibbled at mashed potatoes. Hestia was practically shaking with rage and Lily didn't dare say anything else lest it provoke her to actually lash out.

She couldn't bear it any more. Everyone was looking at her – she could feel hundreds of eyes boring into the back of her head, and occasionally caught fellow Gryffindors staring at her from further down the table. Lily had completely lost her appetite, she explained to Hestia, who for once didn't call bullshit and force her to eat at least three more bites. Instead, she was waved away by her seething friend, and walked alone to the Owlery.

* * *

 **I'm sorry I'm so late! I got back about two weeks ago, but I had hand-written all of this and it really was a bitch to write up. To be honest, I was completely putting it off though. I probably could have had it up two or three days after I got back, but I was in a bit of an 'I'm no longer on a beach' slump and sooooo ... well, you know.**

 **Honestly, pretty much _none_ of what happened in this chapter was supposed to happen. I quite like the way it turned out though. ****Let me know what you think. I also have most of Chapter 9 written (still in a notebook though), so expect that next Wednesday.**

 **I've started playing a game called 'how many references can I squeeze into a chapter?' ... enjoying it thus far. Let me know if you catch any. Or not. That's cool too.**

 **I do need to clarify that I changed the genre from 'friendship and romance' to 'friendship and drama' and that's because, while Jily is ultimately endgame, it's me. It'll take about a decade to get there. Also, the name's been changed because (ironically) 'Changing' was always a really shit temporary title until I came up with a better one, even if this one's only marginally better.**

 **Sorry for the excessively long AN.**

 **Toodles, bitches.**


	9. IHaveNoIdeaWhatToCallThisAgain

**I own nothing blahblahblah**

* * *

Two weeks later and the muttering had yet to subside. Lily couldn't walk to class without being stared at or even sometimes yelled at by an unseen student. The rumours had escalated to such a point that it was now widely accepted that not only were Lily Evans and Sirius Black an item, but that they had nearly killed the nice, minding-her-own-business Slytherin who was sat alone in the Three Broomsticks over the Easter break.

Sirius, of course, found this hilarious. He made a point of kissing Lily's cheek whenever they met and only called her "darling". Him, Remus, Peter and Potter had taken to warning corridors of students of Lily's imminent arrival whenever she left a class or turned a corner.

They were now well into May, and Lily, along with the rest of her year, was panicking. She was constantly flustered and it really was affecting her brain; on Monday she went to the wrong classroom four times, on Tuesday she just completely forgot about Charms, and now Wednesday was off to a bad start too – she'd misplaced her Potions essay and Slughorn was becoming more and more ruthless when it came to docking points as the year came to a close.

'Lord, Lily, maybe you should lay off the studying a bit,' said an unhelpful Marlene. 'Relax. You've been working hard all year and you know everything already. If anyone should be panicking, it's me. I haven't done a bloody thing the entire time I've been in school.'

'That's not true,' Dorcas interjected from behind a book. 'You were practising Vanishing Charms in the middle of the night on Monday.'

Marlene turned and scowled at Dorcas, who remained oblivious behind her book. Lily hopped up from the table. 'It's in the library!' she cried. 'I finished it in the library last night! It must be there!'

Hestia stood up. 'I'll come with you,' she said tiredly. 'You'll probably get lost or forget what you're doing or something stupid like that.'

Lily shot her friend a glare but gladly accepted her offer, and the two of them dashed out of the Great Hall.

'Oi! Evans!' a voice called out to her, and Lily spun around. Potter was leaning up against a pillar, throwing a snitch up and down with a smug smirk on his face.

'Not in the mood, Potter,' Lily's eyes narrowed as she continued walking with Hestia. 'And please put that bloody thing away before I confiscate it from you.'

Potter had been tossing this same snitch around all week – he'd actually beaten Pearce to it during quidditch practice and was now carrying it around as some sort of trophy.

He shrugged, popping the stupid ball into his pocket. 'It's just that Remus gave me a message for you,' he said, still smirking. 'Thought you'd want to hear it but I guess you're just not a very good -'

'What's the message?' Lily snapped. He put a hand to his chest, stepping back in mock offence and Lily glared at him. 'I don't have time for this, Potter. There's ten minutes left before class starts and I have to get to the library and then down to the dungeons in that time.'

Potter looked to Hestia and back at Lily. 'Could I talk to you a bit more privately?' he said. 'It's a bit of a sensitive subject.'

Lily's eyes narrowed as he nodded back towards a broom cupboard.

'I'm not trying anything, Evans,' Potter scoffed as Hestia raised her eyebrows. 'I promise. Just need a quick word with you. It's important, I promise.'

Lily sighed and headed towards the broom cupboard in question. Potter looked surprised she'd agreed and followed her, leaving Hestia standing awkwardly by the stairs.

'What is it, Potter?'

'If I'd known it was this easy to get you in a broom cupboard with me, I'd have done this ages ago,' Potter grinned, running a hand through his hair. 'Sorry, that was a joke. Um, right, this will be a bit of a shock, but Remus … he's um … do you ever notice how he misses school every month? It's because … um …'

'He's a werewolf? Yeah, got it. Is that why you dragged me in here?'

Potter looked astounded. 'Well, um … yeah, he's a werewolf. How did you … no, doesn't matter right now. He wanted me to ask you if you could cover his patrol tomorrow night? I know you two are supposed to go together but obviously that would be a bit difficult, what with the full moon tomorrow, so he was wondering if you could do it on your own?'

'Of course,' Lily replied. 'Why couldn't Remus ask me himself?'

Potter looked at his feet. 'He's feeling rather poorly, I'm afraid.'

'He's at breakfast,' Lily said. 'I saw him less than two minutes ago.'

'I don't know, Evans, he just asked me to tell you,' Potter snapped. Lily raised an eyebrow at him and he rolled his eyes. They stood there in silence for several moments before there was a rap on the door. Lily remembered her essay emergency and practically threw herself from the cupboard and stumbled into Sirius's arms.

'Hello, my love!' he cried loudly, planting a kiss on her temple. Lily smirked and pushed him away, knowing she was going bright red in front of a large group of students. 'What were you doing in a broom cupboard – JAMES! My best friend?! How could you?! How _could_ you seduce my lady in a broom cupboard?!'

'He wishes he knew, Padfoot,' Peter muttered, and Remus snorted. Potter was trying his best not to laugh as Sirius bellowed words of hurt and betrayal at him, just loud enough for most of the Great Hall to hear.

Lily rolled her eyes and gripped Hestia's arm as they made a dash towards the library, ignoring Sirius's cries of anguish.

They hurtled into the library, Lily ignoring Madam Pince's shrieks of indignation while Hestia did her best to hurriedly explain and apologise. Lily ran to the table she'd been studying at, skidding to a halt in front of it, and looked forlorn in front of it. It was devoid of any parchment, essay or otherwise.

'I must have tucked it into the book or something,' she hissed, being watched by a stressed-looking bunch of seventh years.

'You alright, Lily?' Frank Longbottom asked from among their ranks.

'Left my bloody essay here somewhere last night,' Lily replied, rather venomously, as she searched the shelves for the books she'd used. 'Sorry for disturbing your studying, don't mind me.'

Frank shook his head. He waved his wand and a book dislodged itself from a shelf. It opened, a piece of parchment presenting itself, and flew into his hand. 'This your essay?' he asked, holding it up for her.

'Yes, oh my lord, Frank, thank you so much!' Lily gushed, snatching it out of his hand. He smiled in return and waved her away as she and Hestia sprinted out of the library and towards the dungeons.

* * *

The corridors were all empty as Lily and Hestia ran, gasping, through the school, the sound of their feet slapping against the stone floor echoing loudly. Peeves was whistling a few corridors over, and Lily prayed that he wouldn't venture over near them. They were late enough as it was, the last thing they needed was -

Somebody screamed, piercingly loud, and Lily and Hestia stopped in their tracks at the sound.

'What was that?' Hestia whispered, her wand out.

Lily didn't respond, looking around wide-eyed. The only sound she could hear now was Peeves's whistling. Maybe she'd imagined it. But no, Hestia had heard it too. 'I think it was back that way,' she whispered, turning and walking cautiously back towards the scream.

She turned a corner and could hear what sounded like somebody moving furniture around in a classroom at the end of the corridor.

'It was probably someone seeing a spider or something,' Hestia said unconvincingly. 'I saw a massive one near the Forbidden Forest about a month ago.'

'Maybe it's a boggart,' Lily suggested. 'Probably just some Defence class facing boggarts for the first time.'

There was another scream, and some muffled laughter. Lily's blood ran cold as she and Hestia approached the classroom. They stood outside, listening.

Lily recognised the voices.

'Please, no!' came a whimper from inside. 'Please stop, p-please, _please_!'

Another scream, followed by another laugh.

Hestia burst into the classroom before Lily could even reach for her wand.

Mulciber. Of _course_ it was Mulciber. He had a fourth year, Mary MacDonald, pinned down on a desk, and held his wand above her with a sadistic grin.

Hestia disarmed him before he could react.

Lily rushed over to Mary, who had been released from whatever body-bind she had been held under. She rolled, writhing and fell to the floor in agony. She flinched away when Lily arrived at her side, curling herself into a ball against the leg of a desk, sobbing.

Mulciber was sneering behind Lily, saying something about mudbloods, but he was quickly silenced. Lily turned to see why Mulciber of all people would refrain from speaking his disgusting mind.

Hestia had quite literally sewn his mouth shut. Thick black stitches on his lips kept them closed in a painful pout, blood seeping through the needle holes. Lily looked to her friend in horror.

'That'll happen every time you dare utter that _word_ ,' Hestia growled. She looked as though she could kill him. Her face, usually bright and smiling, had contorted into an animalistic expression; her eyes were slits and her lips were pulled back, baring her teeth.

Lily sat down on the ground beside Mary and held out a hand to her. Mary shrank away again, her hands clutched to her sides, and Lily put what she hoped was a comforting arm around the other girl's shoulders.

Mary was bloody, with a great red gash across her cheek and another that ripped through the sleeve of her blouse. She had a cut lip that was already beginning to swell, and a yellowing and bloodshot left eye.

She was shaking so violently that Lily's arm was almost shrugged off a few times. Lily didn't know what Mulciber had done to her, besides the physical injuries Lily could see, but if she had to bet, she'd go with the cruciatus curse.

Mary's breathing slowed over the next few minutes and Lily extended a hand to her. Mary took it gingerly and Lily slowly helped her to her feet.

Her tights were ripped – a ladder running all the way from her ankle to beyond the hem of her skirt – and blood seeped down. Where from, Lily didn't like to think. She felt as though she might vomit. Mary's blouse had been ripped open and her tie lay discarded on the floor by some scattered buttons.

Hestia, seeing this, sent another hex Mulciber's way. Now that Lily actually looked at him, it clearly wasn't the first one. His face was a mass of bruises – bruises that hadn't been there the last time Lily looked – and a deep cut ran along his jaw from the point of his chin to his left ear. Lily had heard him whimpering but had assumed it was just because of the stitches.

She looked at Hestia with wide eyes and back to a very bloody Mulciber. He was crying. His face was wet with blood and tears and his shoulders were shaking. Lily waved her wand and removed the stitches, leaving the bloody needle holes, looking at her friend in disbelief.

'I'll get a teacher after I bring Mary to the Hospital Wing,' she said, as level as she could manage. 'Don't do anything to get yourself in trouble.'

Hestia snorted, eyes still trained on Mulciber, wand still aimed at his chest. He hadn't moved since she'd disarmed him. Lily didn't know if it was a body-bind or just pure fear that kept him rooted to the floor.

Lily, supporting a limping Mary, walked slowly down to the Hospital Wing. The corridors were still empty, but classes would finish in just over fifteen minutes, and Lily quickened the pace. She doubted very much that Mary would want her peers to see her like this.

Madam Pomfrey let out a yelp on their arrival and dropped her copy of _Witch Weekly_ to the floor. She rushed to Mary's side and helped her gently onto one of the cots.

'What happened?' she demanded. 'Is Professor Kettleburn covering Manticores again?! That utter imbecile, I told him it was too -!'

'She was attacked by another student,' Lily interrupted, keeping her voice low, conscious of the two other students in the Hospital Wing. She pulled the curtains around the bed and watched as the young matron practically flew around the bed.

The blood was gone in seconds and Madam Pomfrey handed Mary a blue potion to drink. 'What did he do to her?' she asked Lily, focusing her wand over the gash across Mary's chest.

'I'm honestly not sure how bad it is,' Lily answered. 'But … is there a way to see if the … er, if the cruciatus curse was used?'

Madam Pomfrey dropped the potion she was holding. The glass bottle shattered on the floor, green liquid bubbling on the stone. 'The cruciatus curse?' she breathed with wide eyes. 'Miss Evans, an Unforgivable Curse … on a student … _by a student_ … I don't think … '

She trailed off, eyes darting back to Mary, who was now laid back on the cot with her eyes clenched shut and her fingernails digging into the palms of her hands.

'Miss Evans, I think we need some privacy here, if you would.'

Lily nodded, gave Mary's hand a reassuring squeeze and backed out of the curtains. She checked her watch. It had been just under ten minutes since she left Hestia. She had to get a teacher. Who better than Mulciber's Head of House, she thought as she rushed to the dungeons.

She opened the door far more aggressively than she'd intended, with the result that the entire class turned in their seats to stare at her standing in the doorway.

'Miss Evans,' Slughorn drawled. 'How very good of you to finally grace us with your presence – is that _blood_?'

Lily looked down at her robes, which were in fact covered in Mary's blood. She hadn't realised in her haste to get to the Hospital Wing and then to the dungeons.

'Professor, something's happened,' she ignored his question, along with all the stares her classmates were directing at her. 'We need your help.'

Professor Slughorn blinked in shock and the class turned back around to look at him. He set down the phial he had been showing to the class and nodded.

'Mr Lupin, there's only a few minutes left. You should be able to handle being in charge for that time,' he announced. Remus looked green. 'Very well, Lily. Lead the way.'

* * *

Professor Slughorn, for a man of his size, could move exceptionally quickly when he wanted to. He barrelled through the corridors as Lily tried to keep up with him, doing her best to explain the situation before they reached the classroom.

He didn't react, just kept on hurrying. Lily wondered if he might turn the other cheek and regretted not finding an impartial teacher, like Professor Flitwick. He was only two corridors away, after all. Professor Slughorn famously thought muggleborns were inferior (Lily being _"the exception, of course, my dear."_ ) And Mulciber was a member of the Slug Club. His father had strong ties with the Ministry. Lily's stomach gave a jolt as she considered the very real possibility that Professor Slughorn could ignore what had happened. He all but ignored what had happened in the Three Broomsticks. Why wouldn't he ignore this?

They reached the classroom and Professor Slughorn barged in. The door bounced off the wall when he flung it open, the doorknob falling to the floor on impact.

' _Mulciber_!' he roared, so loudly that Lily would wager he was heard in the Divination tower. 'Is this true?' he spat at the quivering boy in front of him. 'You _attacked_ a fellow student! You called her a – you called her a _mudblood_ , and Lily too! Answer me, boy!'

Mulciber let out a noise not unlike a frightened child. Hestia's wand was still focused on him, though not so obviously now that she was sat on a desk. She wore a smirk not too dissimilar to the manic grin she'd sported earlier, and it really was incredibly unsettling.

'IS IT TRUE?!' Professor Slughorn bellowed, and the desks surrounding him trembled. Mulciber's headed nodded once, just slightly enough for Lily to wonder whether it might have been a nervous tick.

'You disgust me,' Professor Slughorn's voice was no more than a whisper, but contained more venom than Lily had thought was possible. It was the sort of whisper that sent chills down her spine.

'Miss Jones, if you would be so kind as to fetch Professor Dumbledore,' he ordered, still glowering at Mulciber. 'The password is "wine gums". I trust you know where to find him.'

Hestia nodded curtly, hopped from the desk and slinked out of the classroom. Lily listened to her footsteps in the corridor outside before they faded out entirely.

'The girl,' Professor Slughorn barked. 'Is she alright?'

'Um … no, not really,' Lily answered, unsure as to how much detail she should go into. 'I had to carry her to the Hospital Wing. Madam Pomfrey nearly had a fit.'

'How old?'

'Fourteen, I think.'

'Fourteen,' Professor Slughorn repeated softly. 'Fourteen. A _child_ , Mulciber. You terrorized and tortured a child. You were going to do _that_ to a _child_?' He was shouting again, his face a blotchy red and his moustache twitching almost comically.

Mulciber was shaking, crying, blood from his lips mixing with tears and running down to stain the collar of his shirt. Lily wondered whether Professor Slughorn had noticed the blood at all, or any of Mulciber's other injuries for that matter. Maybe he didn't care. Maybe he thought he deserved them.

Professor Slughorn suddenly spun around, his face full of concern. 'Lily, dear, the blood on your robes -'

'It's Mary's, Professor,' Lily assured him. 'It must have seeped onto me while I was helping her to the Hospital Wing. Hestia disarmed _him_ before he had a chance to try and fight either of us.'

Professor Slughorn nodded in relief and turned back to Mulciber. 'Just wait until I tell your father about this, boy,' he warned. 'He'll be furious.'

'He'll be proud,' Mulciber hissed. 'He hates filth like _her_ as much as I do.'

Professor Slughorn's nose scrunched as he leered at Mulciber, now standing defiantly upright if not still crying.

'He'll be _proud_ , you say?' he asked. He now sounded as though they were just having a chat over tea and scones. It was very unnerving, Lily thought, how quickly he could change his tone.

'He's one of _them_ , I take it?' he continued. 'A lackey of _Lord Voldemort_ ,' he sneered. 'Good to know. I'll inform the Minister, we're quite close, you know. He attended Hogwarts just a year or two below me, not that he looks it. I'm afraid politics seems to have taken a toll on his youth.'

Lily was now officially bewildered.

Mulciber, for a split second, looked terrified at Professor Slughorn's words, before regaining what little composure he had with tears still streaming down his face. 'Of course my father's not one of them,' he scoffed, almost mockingly. 'That doesn't mean he doesn't agree with the politics. Mudbloods -'

His lips were sewn shut again. Lily looked in surprise at Professor Slughorn, not thinking he would use such a brutal spell, but he in turn looked at her.

'Lily, my dear, I know you don't like the word, and yes, it is very offensive, but I really must implore you -'

'It wasn't me, Professor,' Lily interrupted. 'Honest. You can check my wand if you'd like.'

Professor Slughorn seemed to give this idea some consideration before shaking his head. 'A curse triggered by the word itself, then,' he mused. 'Interesting magic. Haven't seen the likes of it in a long time.'

He didn't remove the thread until Hestia returned, Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall behind her.

'Horace,' Professor McGonagall greeted him. 'Miss Jones told us you wanted to see Albus about an attack. What's happened?'

Professor Slughorn looked reproachfully over at Mulciber, who was now rubbing a hand to his bloody lips. 'Lily and Hester know more than I, I'm afraid, Minerva,' Professor Slughorn said. 'Girls, if you two could brief the Headmaster and Deputy-Headmistress.'

Lily and Hestia exchanged glances. Lily didn't want to explain it again. She felt ill enough as it was. She kept thinking about Mary, pinned down helplessly on that desk, and about what they could have prevented had they arrived a few minutes sooner. She must have looked as miserable as she felt, because Hestia volunteered. Most of it went right over Lily's head, though she suspected her friend would omit the part where she repeatedly cursed Mulciber.

Avery and Wilkes had said that Mulciber could pay her a visit if she " _got on his bad side_." Was this what they meant? He would do to her what he had done – what he was about to do to Mary? Her stomach lurched.

'And how, do you mind me asking, Miss Jones,' Professor Dumbledore began. 'Did Mr Mulciber acquire his injuries? Did Miss MacDonald fight back?'

Hestia flushed, and Lily hoped for her friend's sake that she would tell the truth. Professor Dumbledore always saw through everything. She would only be in more trouble if she lied. Luckily, Hestia seemed to think the same thing.

'That was me, Professor,' she said clearly. 'I have no excuse. He was disarmed and he couldn't hurt anyone. I take full responsibility. Lily did nothing.'

Professor McGonagall sighed. 'Hestia, you caused the boy very serious injury, not to mention the pain you put him through. The consequences will be innumerable, but I'm sure we can lessen them if you truly are sorry.'

She was being too generous, really.

'I'm not sorry in the slightest, Professor,' Hestia replied defiantly, squaring her shoulders. 'I'd do it again.'

'Miss _Jones_ –!'

'Now, Minerva, I think what Miss Jones is saying is that she would stand up for her friends again,' Professor Dumbledore wheezed. Professor McGonagall's eyebrows were lost somewhere in her hairline and Professor Slughorn looked equally taken aback by Hestia's words.

'Standing up for one's friends is very admirable, Miss Jones, the mark of a true and brave Gryffindor,' Professor Dumbledore continued. 'However, this is generally not the method we at Hogwarts endorse. I'll leave it to your Head of House to decide your punishment.'

There was absolute silence in the room – save for Mulciber's snivelling, of course. Professor McGonagall cleared her throat. 'Right. Yes, Miss Jones, your actions were deplorable,' she said. 'I cannot even begin to express my disappointment. You will serve detention every Wednesday from tonight until the end of the school year. I am also docking twenty-five points from Gryffindor House.'

Hestia nodded acceptingly, though she looked to Lily as if neither the docked points nor the detentions would have any impact on her earlier statement.

'Now, I'm going to go and check on my student,' Professor McGonagall said. 'If you'll all excuse me.'

She left the classroom, walking slower than usual. She seemed remarkably more shaken by this than Lily had thought the unflappable Professor McGonagall would be.

'Mr Mulciber, I believe, would benefit from a trip to the Hospital Wing,' Professor Dumbledore said. Mulciber looked shocked, as if he expected to be left in tears and covered in blood, with gaping holes around his mouth. 'Horace, if you would accompany him, and bring him to see me once he's been patched up?'

'Of course, Headmaster,' Professor Slughorn answered, grabbing the scruff of Mulciber's robes and pulling him towards the door. 'Come along now, boy.'

'Miss Evans, I think a change of robes would be in order,' Professor Dumbledore gestured to Lily's bloody clothes. 'Also, the two of you would be wise not to divulge any of what you saw to anyone but a teacher. Do I make myself clear? Good. Now, the two of you are to come and see myself, Professor McGonagall and Professor Slughorn in my office at noon, please. You know the password, of course, Miss Jones.'

He nodded to them and motioned towards the door. Lily and Hestia exited into the corridor while he returned the classroom to normal.

Lily, not waiting for Hestia, raced to the nearest bathroom (ignoring the very clear _wizards only_ sign on the door), pushed past a pair of rather startled second years, and proceeded to throw up her breakfast.

* * *

The castle was alight with gossip by eleven o'clock. Rumours flew about – not that Lily paid them much attention. She had learned to block most of them out over the last couple of weeks, but she still heard one or two about how she attacked yet another Slytherin, and an even more baffling one concerning whether or not she might be pregnant. She had yet to hear one even mentioning Mary.

'Evans!' Potter grabbed hold of her elbow after Herbology. 'We heard you were in the Hospital Wing. You alright?'

Lily frowned and shrugged out of his grip. No-one else had mentioned the Hospital Wing. The only other two who could have told him were Mary and Madam Pomfrey, both of whom she sincerely doubted would tell him anything.

'I don't know what you're talking about, Potter,' she said, a tad more venomously than she would have liked.

'Yes, you were,' said Peter, joining Potter. 'You were there with Mary MacDonald.'

 _How the hell would they know that_?! Looking around, several students seemed to have overheard the mention of Mary's name and were now looking among themselves. _Shit. Shit shit shit_.

'I certainly was not,' she denied, as loudly as she could. 'I've never even spoken to Mary.'

Of course no-one bought that, and by noon everyone was talking and hypothesising as to why Lily Evans would take Mary MacDonald to the Hospital Wing. Nobody even questioned how Mulciber was involved.

 _Stupid Potter_.

At noon, a very nervous Lily and an all-too-calm Hestia ascended the staircase to Professor Dumbledore's office. Hestia paused outside, holding Lily back with her arm. They listened, hearing voices on the other side of the door.

'- if she doesn't want to then there's nothing we can do about it,' Professor Slughorn was saying. 'She's been through enough, poor girl. I say we leave her rest instead of badgering her through what's clearly a horrid ordeal.'

'You misunderstand me, Horace,' Professor McGonagall chimed in. 'She wants to forget it. Her parents, on the other hand, are worried about how much of her memory the spell will affect. They're set on that _therapy_ thing.'

'Muggles,' Professor Slughorn "pffed". 'I'll never understand them.

Hestia knocked on the door and it was opened by Professor Dumbledore less than a split second later. 'It is unbecoming to eavesdrop,' he said grimly, and Hestia's cheeks reddened. 'Girls, please sit down.'

Lily and Hestia obliged and sat in two large wooden chairs in front of the desk. Professor Dumbledore sat in his chair, Professor McGonagall and Professor Slughorn hovering behind him.

'Crème egg?' Professor Dumbledore offered them a large bowl full, and Lily took one without hesitation. Hestia eyed the sweets suspiciously. 'I discovered them on my most recent trip to Muggle-London. The woman behind the counter looked at me rather oddly when I requested the lot.'

Lily smirked at a mental image of Professor Dumbledore, clad in his usual flamboyance, trying to by sweets from a bewildered muggle.

Professor McGonagall cleared her throat behind the Headmaster and his smile vanished.

'Miss MacDonald is physically sound, thanks to the two of you,' he began. 'She is rather shaken, understandably so, and will spend to next week or so at home with her family. She's asked me to tell you how grateful she is, especially to you, Miss Evans. Mr Mulciber has made a full recovery, though Madam Pomfrey thinks there will be some scarring. I would thank you to remove the curse you placed upon him, Miss Jones.'

Hestia shook her head. 'He shouldn't be using foul slurs like that, Professor,' she refused. 'He'll just have to try not being a racist. I know being a decent person will be hard for him but I'm sure -'

'Miss Jones, remove that curse or I will personally make sure your sixth year won't be at Hogwarts.'

'I'll do it as soon as I can.'

Professor McGonagall was smiling, almost proudly. She caught Lily's eye and immediately sobered up, a stern frown returning to her face.

'I'm afraid you'll have to wait a while since Mr Mulciber has been suspended -'

' _Suspended_?!' Hestia shrieked. 'With all due respect, sir, but he should have his wand snapped! He could have killed Mary! He was going to – he was going to _rape_ her, Professor! Suspension is nothing!'

'Mr Mulciber has been suspended until he returns to sit his exams, and that decision is final.'

'Because his father's a Ministry big-wig?' Hestia's face was returning to its earlier animalistic glare. 'How big a donation did he make to the school, sir?'

'Miss Jones!' Professor McGonagall exclaimed, but Hestia had already jumped up from her seat. She marched out of the office, muttering profanities under her breath, and slammed the door behind her so violently that the portraits surrounding the door-frame shook.

'Batty, that one,' said a wizened old ex-Headmistress.

Professor Dumbledore merely looked bemused. 'She'll be a force to be reckoned with, methinks.'

All was silent for a moment, save for the bickering portraits. Professor Slughorn coughed awkwardly.

'Miss Evans, your actions today saved a life,' Professor Dumbledore suddenly said, his piercing blue eyes meeting her rather startled green ones. 'I'm awarding Gryffindor House thirty points for the compassion and kindness you showed Mary. Not a word of this to another student, you understand? No matter how much Mr Potter might push you.'

Lily flushed and looked down at the crème egg she still held in her hands.

'You're free to go now, Lily,' Professor Slughorn said kindly. Lily smiled gratefully at him, and left the office to try and find Hestia.

* * *

Lily had patrolled alone before, but she'd never been as wary as this about it. She couldn't blame Remus for not showing up – it was the night of the full moon after all – but still she wished she wasn't roaming the corridors alone.

She had considered asking Benjy to cover Remus's patrol with her, but she had found him nose-deep in revision in the library and didn't want to bother him.

The school was eerily quiet tonight. Usually she'd have Remus to respond to just about everything she said with a witty or sarcastic remark, and she really did miss it now. This evening was especially quiet – as the entire day had been once Professor Dumbledore gave a speech at dinner the night previous, informing the school of the attack.

All she'd encountered thus far were Sirius and Severus muttering at each other, which was easy enough to break up, and later she found Alice and Frank in a broom cupboard. Aside from that, all was quiet.

Lily checked her watch. It was ten o'clock, meaning all students would be in the common rooms by now. Or should be, at least, as she reminded a trio of Hufflepuff fourth years suspiciously lurking by a statue of a witch with one eye.

She would usually find ways to occupy herself while patrolling alone, such as chatting to a particularly friendly portrait of a young girl on the second floor, or enchanting a book to follow her, reading itself aloud. Occasionally she would talk with Nearly Headless Nick, but those discussions tended to become quite dark rather quickly. He really did like to talk about death.

Tonight though, Lily found that she couldn't help but grip her wand in her pocket, wary of anything or anyone who she might come across. She didn't know why she was being so paranoid. Mulciber was suspended, and Professor Slughorn had come down hard on his students after Mary's attack. Lily only wished it didn't take a student's life being threatened for him to actually see that there was a very real problem with the attitudes of his House.

Lily was just considering heading back up to the common room – nothing out of the ordinary seemed to be happening, and it wasn't as though anyone would know if she ended her patrol early – when she heard whispering.

She gripped her wand even tighter before making her way towards it – it couldn't be far, and found herself outside the Hospital Wing. Peering around the corner, she saw a figure supporting what looked like another student into the Hospital Wing.

Madam Pomfrey opened the door and light from inside illuminated the two figures more clearly, but Lily couldn't see faces from behind them.

'What on earth happened to him, James? What have you done this time?' Madam Pomfrey gasped, looking sternly at the one supporting the other.

 _James_. _James_ bloody _Potter_.

'I didn't do anything, Poppy, I swear,' Potter said, desperately. 'He was at the shack, I don't know how he got in there or how he knew, but he saw Remus and – shit, I don't know what to do – Remus got him on the side of the head and I barely got him out on time, I don't even know if I _did_ get him out on time -'

'James, calm down, just put him on the bed there,' Madam Pomfrey ordered. 'Is he bleeding at all? Did he pass out immediately?'

'I – I don't know, I think so,' Potter replied, heaving the body onto a bed out of Lily's line of sight. She snuck forward a few paces, positioning herself in a shadow by the door, just out of sight of those inside.

'Is he going to be alright?' Potter breathed, standing uselessly behind Madam Pomfrey as she fussed over the other student. 'I don't think Remus scratched him or anything, but honestly I'm not sure, it all happened so fast.'

'I think so,' Madam Pomfrey replied. 'Yes, he'll be fine. Just a blow to the head. He'll likely have a concussion, but I'll keep him here overnight to keep an eye.'

Lily still couldn't see who it was they were talking about. She saw a mess of long dark hair – could it be Sirius? No, Sirius's hair was lighter, and curlier. This almost looked like -

 _Severus_. Madam Pomfrey moved for just long enough for Lily to see his face, white as a sheet with a reddening right temple. She'd only seen him an hour or two ago.

She let out a gasp and had to grip the door to steady herself.

What was it Potter said? He was at the shack? What shack? The only shack Lily could think of was the Shrieking Shack, but that couldn't be it. That was in Hogsmeade. Was there another on the Hogwarts grounds she just didn't know about? And he had seen Remus – meaning he now knew about his condition.

Severus wouldn't tell, though. Of course not. Would he?

 _"They're monsters as soon as they're bitten. They're a danger to society."_

He could. He might, actually. _Shit_.

She wanted to go inside, to shake him awake and make him promise he wouldn't say anything. But if he was out cold that would hardly work. She'd have to go back the next morning. To see if he was okay.

Potter was still standing behind the matron, wringing his hands and looking genuinely concerned. _Shouldn't he be delighted Sev got hurt? Is that not his idea of a good time?_ He was probably just worried about how much Severus had seen. That was why he was worried. It wasn't out of concern for Severus, it was out of concern solely for Remus.

He said something to Madam Pomfrey – Lily didn't catch it – but he began making his way towards the door and Lily jumped back in alarm. She panicked and rounded the corner, pressing herself against the wall.

'No point in hiding, Evans, I could see your hair a mile off.'

She scowled and turned. 'You're supposed to be in the common room.'

'You're not supposed to be eavesdropping,' Potter quipped. 'It's rude.'

Lily flushed and scowled at him again. 'What happened to Sev? He saw Remus? What happened?'

Potter rolled his eyes and ran a hand through his hair. 'Doesn't concern you, Evans,' he said, walking forward and pushing past her.

'Like hell it does,' Lily snapped. 'He's my friend. Remus is my friend. I have a right to know.'

Potter huffed and continued walking away. She scoffed incredulously and rushed after him, grabbing a hold of his arm.

'I said it doesn't concern you, Evans!' Potter rounded on her, and Lily took a step back in alarm. 'It has nothing to do with you! If anyone has the right to tell you, it's Remus, but I sincerely doubt he would do so, so just back off!'

He stormed away, leaving Lily standing alone with wide eyes. He had no right to speak to her like that. Of course she had a right to know! If Severus was hurt, she had a right to know how it happened, and if Remus was hurt or if his secret was compromised, she had a right to know that too. Besides, if anyone could convince Severus to keep his mouth shut, it was her.

She watched Potter disappear around a corner before scoffing angrily and ascending the stairs to the common room.

* * *

Lily woke up at half past six on Friday morning, and slipped out of bed as quietly as she could. She pulled her slippers, wrapped herself in a cardigan and silently made her way to the Hospital Wing.

Severus was asleep in a bed near the door, and Lily crept towards him. She sat herself on the edge of the cot and shook him awake. His eyes blinked open and he sat up in the bed in alarm.

'Lily? What's going on? Where -'

'You're in the Hospital Wing,' Lily whispered. 'Keep your voice down, I don't want Madam Pomfrey to come in. Listen, I don't know what you saw last night -'

'He's a fucking _werewolf,_ Lily!' Severus hushed urgently. 'Lupin's a werewolf! Can you believe they let him in here! In a school?!'

'I know, but you have to keep it down!' Lily snapped. 'I know he's a werewolf, I've known for a while now, but please, _please_ , promise me you won't tell anyone!'

Severus looked at her incredulously. 'I can't keep quiet about it, Lily!' he cried. 'He's a werewolf! He's dangerous! He could kill someone, he could have killed me last night!'

'He's not dangerous,' Lily said. 'I promise he's not. He goes out of his way to make sure he doesn't hurt anyone.'

 _Shouldn't Remus be in here?_ Lily wondered, and looked around at the other beds. Sure enough, there he was at the end of the room, passed out with … a dog on his bed? It looked like the same one they had trained for April Fools Day. _How did it get into the castle?_

'Please promise me,' Lily begged. 'Please. He's my friend.'

Severus sighed. 'Fine,' he muttered. 'But Lily, he's dangerous. I know you think he's your friend but he's vicious when he turns. And his friends are all illeg-'

'Miss Evans, what do you think you're doing?!' Madam Pomfrey seemed to appear out of nowhere.

'Sorry, Madam Pomfrey, so sorry, I just – I heard Sev was hurt and I had to see him,' Lily cried. 'I'm really sorry, I was just worried about him.'

Madam Pomfrey's face softened. 'Alright, well, I won't dock points. But you have to leave now,' she said. 'Mr Snape here needs his rest.'

Lily hopped up from the bed. 'Thank you, Madam Pomfrey,' she smiled sweetly. 'Promise me, Sev,' she reminded her friend as she retreated from the ward. She threw one last look back at him, and another at Remus, before leaving the Hospital Wing.

* * *

 **I'm really sorry this is late. I just don't have much motivation for this story anymore, but I don't really want to abandon it either because I have a lot of it planned out. I'm just really shit at this, sorry.**

 **Shit's finally starting to happen in the story though, which I guess is good. Maybe that'll motivate me. Who knows.**

 **Reviews would be much appreciated, so please spare one or two words to tell me either a)that you like the story _or_ b) that you don't like the story. Pretty please. **


	10. Apology

Whoops.

I suppose I should make it official. This story has been dumped. I don't even have an excuse, so sorry about that. I am, however, writing a new (hopefully improved) story, and that should be up soon. It's fully planned out, I have fully thought out my characters and their arcs, and I know what's happening in it so it won't be me sitting in front of my computer saying 'what'll I do next?' It'll be very different, and should be better. I hope.

Thanks for sticking with it up until now. I honestly don't know why any of you did, but thanks anyway. I'm really sorry.

I'll delete this story as soon as the new one goes up because honestly this one is so shit it's embarrassing.

Thanks and sorry again,

N


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